The context of escape and resolution simply comes from a life lived. With "Head Count", the lead character of Kat (Aaron Jakubenko) just wants to escape and yet his circumstances simply make him more prone to the possibility of loss. Jakubenko has the cool and the comic timing down but the "Raising Arizona" vibe never quite rachets up to what it could be.

Guillermo De Toro has always worked in the macabre but normally always works within the context of folklore. With "Nightmare Alley", his context is a little different. Granted this is a remake in most ways of the Tyrone Powers film from the 40s but it does take on some resonance today. It is more a character piece on the corruption of power from a perspective that is both Darwinian but also Machiavellian in way.