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Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley is R-rated

Sounds like a rough one

Guillermo del Toro’s next movie has been rated, and it sounds like it might not be for the faint of heart. Nightmare Alley, a horror movie due in December, is R-rated, containing strong violence, and nudity.

This comes from the Motion Picture Association of America, via Collider, where the criteria listed is: strong or bloody violence, some sexual content, nudity, and language. The dark adventure movie is based on the novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, about a slimy carnival worker during the 1940s, and the sleaze of that are of show-business.

From the looks of these descriptors, del Toro hasn’t spared on anything shocking from the book. It’s worth noting the famed director’s last two fantasy movies, Crimson Peak and the Shape of Water, were also R-rated, so it’s nothing new that he’s made something aimed squarely at adults. That said, while those were dark in tone, they weren’t especially violent, and going purely by the source material, Nightmare Alley might yield another, even darker side of the Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy director.

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Nightmare Alley stars Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Bradley Cooper,  Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Rooney Mara, and more. Production wrapped late last year, after everything was delayed by six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A previous adaptation of the book was made in 1947 by Edmund Goulding, and del Toro has suggested his version will be distinct from Goulding’s.

Del Toro has a co-writing credit with Kim Morgan. His last flick, The Shape of Water, took home best Picture from the 2019 Academy Awards, setting expectations sky high for Nightmare alley.

We don’t have too long to wait to find out – Nightmare Alley opens theatrical December 3.