ADDITION: Fox Searchlight Pictures 4K UHD (March 2022): Fox Searchlight Pictures have released Guillermo del Toro's "Nightmare Alley" to 4K UHD. Like most of del Toro's films this looks gorgeous. Production/costume design and art direction are impeccable. There really isn't much to say about the exceptional image quality excepting that the film is, appropriately, very dark and there is some very minor teal creeping in. Detail is impressive and the frequent shadows from lighting cigarettes to well-staged placement of lighting comes through brilliantly via this 3840 X 2160 transfer. Depth is always present and the overall visuals are consistently striking. Wow.

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

NOTE: 76 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures, in lossless PNG format, for Patrons are available HERE

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Godfather (software uniformly simulated HDR), Le Crecle Rouge (software uniformly simulated HDR), An American Werewolf in London (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Hard Day's Night (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Piano (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Great Escape (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Red Shoes (software uniformly simulated HDR), Citizen Kane (software uniformly simulated HDR), Unbreakable (software uniformly simulated HDR), Mulholland Dr. (software uniformly simulated HDR), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Hills Have Eyes (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Servant (software uniformly simulated HDR), Anatomy of a Murder (software uniformly simulated HDR), Taxi Driver  (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wolf Man (1941) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Frankenstein (1931) (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Deep Red (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Misery (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Silence of the Lambs (software uniformly simulated HDR), John Carpenter's "The Thing" (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Cat' o'Nine Tails (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (software uniformly simulated HDR), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (software uniformly simulated HDR), Perdita Durango (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Django (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Fanny Lye Deliver'd (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, (NO HDR applied to disc),  Rollerball (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Chernobyl  (software uniformly simulated HDR), Daughters of Darkness (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vigilante (software uniformly simulated HDR), Tremors (software uniformly simulated HDR), Cinema Paradiso (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bourne Legacy (software uniformly simulated HDR), Full Metal Jacket (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Psycho (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Birds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Rear Window (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vertigo (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Spartacus (software uniformly simulated HDR), Jaws (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Invisible Man, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucio Fulci's 1979 Zombie  (software uniformly simulated HDR),, 2004's Van Helsing (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Shallows (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bridge on the River Kwai (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Deer Hunter (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Elephant Man (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Quiet Place (software uniformly simulated HDR), Easy Rider (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspiria (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pan's Labyrinth (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Wizard of Oz, (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shining, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Batman Returns (software uniformly simulated HDR), Don't Look Now (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot  (software uniformly simulated HDR),,  Bram Stoker's Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucy (software uniformly simulated HDR), They Live (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shutter Island (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Matrix (software uniformly simulated HDR), Alien (software uniformly simulated HDR), Toy Story (software uniformly simulated HDR),  A Few Good Men (software uniformly simulated HDR),  2001: A Space Odyssey (HDR caps udated), Schindler's List (simulated HDR), The Neon Demon (No HDR), Dawn of the Dead (No HDR), Saving Private Ryan (simulated HDR and 'raw' captures), Suspiria (No HDR), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (No HDR), The Big Lebowski, and I Am Legend (simulated and 'raw' HDR captures).

The 4K UHD disc's audio gives the English language options of a robust Dolby Atmos (or identified as Dolby TrueHD) 7.1 surround track with a 'descriptive audio track' option in lossy Dolby as well as French and Spanish DUBs. The surround sounded pristine with tight, punchy aggression (pummeling fists, hollow small caliber gunshots etc.), piercing carny promotional yells coming from the rears and consistent crystal clear dialogue. The dynamic score is by Nathan Johnson (Knives Out, Looper, Brick.) The orchestral variety of the music ranges from mystery, high drama to foreboding intensity and creepy darkness. This is the equal to the strong video. BTW, "Stardust" by Hoagie Carmichael plays with the final credits. All 4K UHD discs are Region 'Free' as is the included Blu-ray and the Fox Searchlight Pictures offers optional English (SDH), French or Spanish subtitles.

There are no extras on the 4K UHD disc. However, there is a second disc, a Blu-ray, with the film and three featurettes; 'Del Toro's Neo Noir', 'Beneath the Tarp', 'What Exists in the Fringe' which run 1/2 hour in total and offer behind-the-scenes footage and production shots, input from writer/director Guillermo del Toro, snippets from actors Dafoe, Blanchett, Perlman, costume designer Luis Sequeira, production designer Tamara Deverell and others. It's fairly surface stuff but revealing to a small extent. "Nightmare Alley"s long running time hinders a commentary but I would have appreciated one from del Toro.

Guillermo del Toro's "Nightmare Alley" had criticism for it's length and darker qualities. But the latter would be more suitable to the William Lindsay Gresham novel than censors would allow for Edmund Goulding's 1947 Noir mainstay. And I personally loved the extensive running time - this film is drenched in vintage beauty, noir conventions - who doesn't want more? - and it varies enough from the original film to make it always interesting; fleshing out certain, previously underdeveloped, characters, and not simply rehashing the memorable dialogue of the Tyrone Power gem (that many of us have memorized.) It has brilliant casting with Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette as Zeena the Seer, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara as loveable Molly, Ron Perlman as Bruno, David Strathairn as alcoholic Pete... and the production is expertly realized. There was no way I was not going to get the Fox 4K UHD release and it's a keeper for me. "Nightmare Alley" overflows with all that we love about the 'dark cinema' cycle - what a pleasure to briefly revisit that era in such a stellar visual representation. Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze