Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead ForNightmare Alley

The ending of Nightmare Alley , the latest film from Guillermo del Toro and possibly a genre first for the director, has a few components that warrant more explaining. The 1940s-set carnival/crime drama naturally features some twists and turns, as well as chilling revelations, throughout its dark, dingy story, culminating in a powerful, if extremely depressing, ending. While the film's finale is rather definitive, it also raises several unanswered questions.

Nightmare Alley is an adaptation of a 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, which itself had another film adaptation in 1947, in the form of a classic noir. Gresham penned the novel during his time as an editor for a true-crime magazine and took inspiration from conversations with a former carnival worker. Thus, the story is filled not only with recognizable circus personas like palm readers and "freaks," but with a healthy dose of the macabre as well. Del Toro's Nightmare Alley, though not strictly a horror movie, explores the dark underbelly of circuses and big show acts without reservation just like its source material, and in doing so offers a bleak, harrowing picture of the American Dream gone wrong.

Nightmare Alley's ending warrants further examination on a few key plot points, thematic elements, and deeper meanings. While Stanton Carlisle's story ends in a way that's as fitting as it is dark, it also has a lot going on beneath the surface. Here's a guide to some of the important questions and pointsNightmare Alley's ending raises, with explanations of what it all means.

Why Did Dr. Lilith Betray Stan?

The biggest surprise twist inNightmare Alley comes in the film's final twenty minutes, when Cate Blanchett's Dr. Lilith Ritter, in a move befitting her role inThor Ragnarok as the villain Hela, reveals that she has been seducing Stan under false pretenses, stealing his money, and planning to frame him as a deluded mental patient. It all happens rather suddenly, and even though Lilith seems shady throughout the whole film, it's still a bit murky what her motives are for betraying Stan.

The answer lies in the line Lilith delivers to Stan as he lies sprawled on the floor after she shoots him: "am I powerful enough for younow, Stan?" Lilith also confirms in the same scene that she was never in this for the money. Rather, her long con of Stan and her subsequent betrayal all come down to a grudge she's held since the moment they met. When Lilith challenges Stan's (played by Bradley Cooper) mentalist abilities during a show earlier in the film, he retaliates by making a rather biting cold read of her in which he tells her she's not as powerful as she thinks. This may seem like a small thing for Lilith to pin an enormous revenge plot on, but asNightmare Alley clearly illustrates, deep-seated insecurities can make people do crazy things. On a more thematic note, it's also fitting that his affair with Lilith comes back to bite Stan, as she's very pointedly named after the temptress she-demon of Judeo-Christian folklore, a tradition whichNightmare Alleyreferences frequently.

What's The Story With Stan's Father?

Throughout the film, Stan has flashbacks to his father's house at meaningful moments, particularly a vision of it burning up in a fire. Though Stan's father appears very little, he might be the most significantNightmare Alley character because of his lasting influence on the protagonist. Ultimately, Stan's father represents for him not only a figure of attachment and hate, but also an example of what he fears becoming.

It's unclear what exactly happened to Stan's father until the end of the film, in which a flashback shows him telling the dying man, "I've always hated you," then opening the window and taking the old man's blanket for himself so that he freezes to death. The fact that Stan killed his own father lines up with the complexity he displays throughout the film, particularly when he causes Pete's death. For Stan, the worst thing he can be is a weak man, a drunk, and a liar: all the things his father was. This is why he lashes out at older men that remind him of his father throughoutNightmare Alley, and why it's especially cruel and sad that Stan ends up just like him all the same. Stan's father also serves as an important touchstone forNightmare Alley's religious overtones, as he was a pastor, something else Stan has a healthy amount of disdain for.

How Was Stan's Fate Foreshadowed?

The final scene inNightmare Alley is deeply tragic, as Stan finds himself offered a "temporary" geek job at a seedy carnival and decides to take it even though he knows exactly where it will lead. At the same time, this scene is also the culmination of lots of foreshadowing throughout the film; in classic Guillermo del Toro movie fashion, all the pieces eventually come together. It begins as early as the first twenty minutes, in which Stan is drawn into the geek tent and watches in horror as the man drinks chicken blood. He then becomes a sort of ally to the geek in Clem's show until the man's imminent death, which shows a degree of empathy between Stan and the geek that indicates Stan might understand what would drive a man into such work. The mechanics behind how a geek is created are also covered early enough in the film to be almost forgotten, until Stan (and ideally the audience too) finds himself recognizing the exact same words fromO Brother, Where Art Thou?'s Tim Blake Nelson in the end. Steve's steady descent into alcoholism is another clue foreshadowing his eventual geek role, as is the fact that he hides among crates full of chickens when he steals away on a train leaving the city.

What Do All The Eyes Represent?

Del Toro is known for his striking and meaningful imagery, andNightmare Alley is no exception. In addition to consistent religious and spiritual imagery, such as tarot cards and satanic visuals as aggressive as a giant mechanical devil head,Nightmare Alley also relies heavily on eyes in its imagery. There's the preserved unborn baby dubbed Enoch with a single giant eye in the middle of its forehead which "follows you like a painting," a room full of eyes in the fun house, and the golden eye embroidered on the blindfold Stan uses for his mentalist act. Guillermo del Toro's trippy, Tim Burton-esque eye visuals signify two main things. First is the idea of "second sight" that Stan claims to have as a medium. Second, and even more important, is the film's poignant overtones of religion and sin. Though Stan is dismissive of religion because of his father,Nightmare Alley's eyes seem to indicate that mankind is always being watched and judged by unseen forces.

Why Is It Called Nightmare Alley?

ThoughNightmare Alley sounds like a place, neither del Toro's film nor the novel mentions it, though the original book cover does picture an alleyway. Thus, the title is more metaphorical. The nightmare aspect could reflect the film's core idea that every person has deep-seated fears that can be exploited. For Stan, that's becoming like his father, a nightmare he unfortunately succumbs to. "Nightmare" also evokes the freakish aspect of the film, specifically the inhuman treatment of people like the geeks. This is one way in which Nightmare Alley echoesThe Shape of Water, another del Toro film.

The use of the word alley evokes confinement and dead ends, which is also applicable to the film. Though Stan perceives himself to be on a road to glory, the film slowly reveals that he's been taking steps down a much darker path all along. Zeena warns Stan before his spook show that he still has a choice to avoid his fateful tarot reading, but he disregards her advice, and thus puts himself in a metaphorical alleyway in which the choices become fewer and fewer and there's nowhere to run.

The Real Meaning Of Nightmare Alley's Ending

Gresham'sNightmare Alley novel was heralded at the time, and continues to be so today, as an unabashed, thorough examination of the nastiest parts of the human condition. Because it does so through the lens of circus performers and mentalists, it also reads as a sort of exposé of the carnival industry during the 40s. Del Toro'sNightmare Alley, a possible Oscar contender, accomplishes all these grim messages quite compellingly, too. The fact that Stan aims too high in his pursuit of money and renown, which he thinks will heal the deep hole inside him, also evokes the American Dream, an especially poignant topic in the late 30s and early 40s as people struggled with the Depression and the start of World War II.Nightmare Alley highlights the American Dream's illusory nature, however, or at least shows how it can go horribly, irredeemably wrong. Ultimately, it is a story about how men bring misfortune on themselves. This is why Nightmare Alley 's ending is poetically perfect, even if it is incredibly tragic and dark.

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About The Author

Ruth Coolidge (133 Articles Published)

Ruth Coolidge is a Senior Updates Writer for Screen Rant cleaning up out-of-date articles, meaning you have probably been reading her work all over the site without even knowing it. Ruth has a degree in Creative Writing and Cinema Studies from Hamilton College and is a published poet, among other writing accolades (you can find her work in the likes of Laurel Moon Magazine and on poets.org). Ruth enjoys marrying her loves of language and mainstream movies/TV as a writer for Screen Rant. Ultimately, however, Ruth's real calling is writing her own movies, shows, video games, and more, so stay tuned for the day when her work is being covered on sites like Screen Rant. In addition to her obsessions with writing and movies, Ruth also loves dogs, cooking, and adventuring in the great outdoors.

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