Can film noir and the horror genre ever be separated?
The darkness of Guillermo del Toro’s films brings to life a warning of morality. He is known primarily for his work with dark fantasy—a blend of horror and fantasy. But Nightmare Alley marries his love of dark, rich stories with the isolating, existentialist visuals of film noir.
In an interview with Turner Classic Movies, del Toro discusses the similarities between the genre conventions of both horror and film noir, saying the two genres work as parables.
Nightmare Alley found much of its inspiration through American realist painters like Thomas Hart Benton and Edward Hopper. The American realism movement was a rejection of romanticism in the 20th century, attempting to show and express the reality of regular people’s lives affected by the war-ridden times. Although colorful, the art depicted contemporary social realities that were hauntingly lonely as it focused on the individual.
Author: Alyssa Miller
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
