Movie name : Nightmare Alley

Release date : 2021

Stanton "Stan" Carlisle burns down his Midwestern home and takes a job as a carny with a
traveling carnival. When the carnival geek becomes sick, carnival owner Clem enlists Stan to
help him dispose of him. Stan is disturbed at how any man could sink to the level of performing
as a geek, living in a cage in squalor and biting off the heads of live chickens to appease the
crowd. Clem explains that he seeks out alcoholic or drug-addicted men with troubled pasts, and
lures them in with promises of a "temporary" job and opium-laced alcohol. He then uses their
dependence to physically and mentally abuse them until they sink into madness and depravity,
thus creating a new geek. He shows Stan where he stores the moonshine he brews to control
some of the carnies, but warns him not to mistake it for the wood alcohol he stores nearby. Stan
works with clairvoyant act "Madame Zeena" and her alcoholic husband, Pete. Zeena and Pete
use cold reading and an ingenious coded language system to make it appear that she has
extraordinary mental powers, which Pete begins teaching to Stan. He and Zeena warn Stan not to
ever use these skills to continue leading patrons on when it comes to the dead, what they call a
"spook show"; they always inform customers afterward that the show is a deception, otherwise
people get hurt. Meanwhile, Stan becomes attracted to fellow performer Molly, and approaches
her with an idea for a two-person act away from the carnival. One night, Stan accidentally gives
Pete the wrong bottle and the old man dies from consuming wood alcohol. In the aftermath, Stan
swears his love to Molly and reiterates his plan to her. She accepts and they leave the carnival
behind. Two years later, Stan has successfully reinvented himself as "The Great Stanton", a
psychic act for the wealthy urban elite of Chicago, along with Molly as his assistant, using Zeena
and Pete's techniques. During a performance, their act is interrupted by psychologist Dr. Lilith
Ritter, who attempts to expose their code system. Stan's cold reading allows him to best Ritter,
keeping their act safe. He is later approached by the wealthy Judge Harrington, who employed
Ritter to test Stan. He is now convinced of Stan's abilities and offers to pay him handsomely to
allow him and his wife to communicate with their dead son. Despite Molly's objections to the
"spook show," Stan agrees. Ritter invites Stan to her office. Knowing he is a con man, she is
nevertheless intrigued by his manipulative skill. Through her recorded sessions with her clients,
she has accumulated sensitive information about various members of Chicago's social elite.
Finding themselves to be kindred spirits, she and Stanton begin an affair and they conspire
together to manipulate Harrington, with Ritter secretly providing private information to fuel his
charade. She also begins therapy sessions with Stan, who reveals his guilt over Pete's death, and
his hatred of his alcoholic father, who he killed in their home before joining the carnival.
Harrington introduces Stan to the powerful Ezra Grindle. Grindle wishes to speak to his long lost
illegitimate lover, Dory, who died of a forced miscarriage. Despite warnings from Ritter that
Grindle is dangerous, Stan begins scamming Grindle and begins drinking. Molly becomes
increasingly uncomfortable, and upon learning of the affair with Ritter, leaves Stan. He begs her
to stay, but she refuses, only agreeing to help him one last time. She poses as Dory for Stan's
ultimate act: conjuring Dory from afar for Grindle. However, he loses control of Grindle, who
grabs Molly and reveals himself to be a violent abuser of women, plagued by his guilt over Dory.
Upon realizing that "Dory" is a fake, he violently threatens Stan, who kills him. They flee and
Molly leaves Stan for good. Stan goes to Ritter for help, but discovers she has been scamming
him all along, keeping the money for herself. She expresses disappointment in realizing that he
was nothing more than a base money-driven criminal. She contacts the police and threatens to
use her recordings of their sessions as evidence that he is mentally disturbed should he try to
implicate her. Stan attacks her, but she shoots him and he flees. A wanted man, injured, and with
nowhere else to go, Stanton wanders around for years as a hobo, sunk in alcoholism. At his limit,
he tries to get a job at another carnival. The owner turns him away, but at the last minute offers
him a drink and a "temporary" job as the new geek. Finally broken, Stan agrees, saying, "Mister,
I was born for it," as he laughs and then begins to sob.