"Nightmare Alley" is a 7 part anthology horror film from writers / directors Laurence Holloway and Walter Ruether. This low budget effort gets off to a good start with an opening of a Bum offering a comic book for a smoke to two long hair's who make the mistake of insulting the bum who promptly pulls a knife and takes one of them out. The other friend leaves his buddy stranded and the victim's response to this betrayal is Classic. This sort of humor is present throughout "Nightmare Alley" and is really the film makers saying "have fun" with this. Taken in this intended tongue in cheek manor the alley delivers a good time to horror fans. The first story "A Fistful of Inards" is a zombie opus with a cowboy twist which is quite unique. Great gore effects make this one a real treat. "Rebellion" about a satanic rat that wants to take over the world may have the best humor and dialog in the film and is a hoot! "Death Chat" features the best atmosphere of all the stories including an Axe to the head that is excellent. The vengeful spirit and her appearance is quite effective as well. "Meat" has some sick ideas in it, and "The Great Damone" was a nice change of pace from the other stories. The film ends strong with the most suspenseful tale of them all called "Slash of the Blade" which is a Jack the Ripper story that manages some nice slasher moments and a few gory set pieces that will please most gore fans. "Closet Case" was the only true let down of the 7 stories and doesn't seem to belong with the other stories. Overall Holloway and Ruether make up for the lack of budget with their love of horror movies. By no means a classic, but taken the way it is intended "Nightmare Alley" is a good time for horror fans and should please the independent horror film fan a lot. Pick it up!
