An ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychologist who is even more dangerous than he is.

While it may not hit quite as hard as the original, Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley is a modern noir thriller with a pleasantly pulpy spin.

Stylish but slow, Nightmare Alley pays off with a powerful ending -- if you can hang in long enough to make it, that is.