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The Alchemist Cookbook

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The Alchemist Cookbook (2016)

March. 13,2016
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5.2
| Drama Horror
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Self-made chemist Sean, a recluse living in an old trailer in the woods, suffers from pill-popping delusions of fortune. When his manic attempts at cracking the ancient secret of alchemy go awry he unleashes something far more sinister and dangerous.

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Maidexpl
2016/03/13

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

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filippaberry84
2016/03/14

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

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Ortiz
2016/03/15

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

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Roxie
2016/03/16

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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maximumkate
2016/03/17

Alchemy is, at its essence, the use of natural laws to transmute a thing from a lower state to a higher one. In the popular imagination, this involves transmuting the common base metal lead into the rare metal gold, but the principles of transmutation apply via correspondence on several other levels: the transmutation of mortal flesh to immortal flesh, the transmutation of deindividuated/fractured consciousness into an individuated or whole one, or, most tantalizingly, transmutation of the soul.One wonders whether in the lore about alchemy whether or not the result you got was based on your intentions. Here, an insane young man in the apparent middle of the Michigan woods in a trailer (there's your Raimi), is seeking what appears to be metallic gold to buy himself a mansion.The transmutation goes exactly in the wrong direction.The Jarmusch element is, of course, the fish-out-of-water-and-time aspect of a guy in a Minor Threat tee shirt in the modern age with conceits of being an alchemist, not dissimilar to Ghost Dog who imagines himself a Samurai and is, like Ghost Dog, not completely sane.Well, that's an understatement.The film feels like a horror film but is really about madness. Although our lead does not narrate the film, he carries it, and we wind up with a classic unreliable narrator problem: is anything we're seeing real, or are we looking at events through the delusion of a mentally ill man who has stopped taking his pills?What I suppose is interesting here is the examination of one specific manifestation of insanity - in this case, one that is tied into the occult. We see things in the woods we aren't sure is really there. Fire flares up and we're not sure if that's really happening. We're not 100% sure what happens to the likable and hilarious Cortez (but we can make an educated guess that it has nothing actually to do with demons.)The titles and marketing for this film combine two of my interests - alchemy (and fellow students of alchemy, this is not the film you're looking for), with the lettering from the infamous Anarchist Cookbook -- an apt combination of things. As with the Anarchist Cookbook which is full of recipes which are reputed to be unsafe or may blow up in your face, so too alchemy here with its noxious fumes, debts to demons, and so forth.Part of the problem with marketing this film is there's no way to classify it. The "horror" bucket is what you settle on because it doesn't fit anywhere else, but a serious horror fan is likely to be annoyed by this mostly plotless film. Any verbal description isn't going to match the reality of the film, which is a patient (or slow, depending on how you look at it) study of a man who thinks he's bargaining with demons for gold, but is, in fact, schizophrenic.All the fixin's are there: paranoia, hallucinations, fear, and self-abuse. I liked it a lot. I actually thought the two leads did a fantastic job with a script which must have been puzzling when they first encountered it.But alas, as someone who is waiting for something like a film version of The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, it looks like I'm going to be waiting for something about alchemy which isn't so full of darkness.Still, gutsy, original independent film and one thing it isn't, is derivative. Just know going in that this is an exploration of broken psychology, and not a horror film in the classic sense of that term.

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Michael Ledo
2016/03/18

Sean (Ty Hickson) lives in Uncle Ron's trailer in the woods. He is attempting to make gold using an alchemist book. He is isolated and is brought supplies by Cortez (Amari Cheatom). Neither are likable characters. Sean goes off his meds and begins to see things...are they demons from his experiment or is he descending into madness.The film was basically a one man play and I was bored watching/hearing Sean chomp on chips, play with chemicals, light candles, and tend for a cat. It isn't until an hour into the film that anything exciting happens.Not for everyone. Not for me, although it may find a small niche.Guide: F-word. Male butt nudity

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Bill-Straus
2016/03/19

Unlike anything I've seen before. Bizarre with a dark sense of humor. Like art-house Evil Dead, or something. But not wacky comedy...Grounded and human. Astonishing and unclassifiable. The film hinges on a masterful performance by Ty Hickson whose character's slow descent is brilliant, terrifying and sad. A supporting role from Amari Cheatom is flawless, as well. He brings the outside perspective, clashing with Sean's isolation and disdain for society. The film works on a few levels, I think. There's a lot going on here. Like a puzzle that can be assembled in different ways. Certainly in my top 3 films of the year this is genuinely original and brilliant. I really need to check out director Potrykus other work.

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Kenny Keen
2016/03/20

First off this movie isn't for everyone. That's for sure. It's challenging and never gives the audience what they expect. The director has somehow made something that doesn't feel like a genre film, but includes elements from past and present supernatural films. It's got a timeless quality. You're never quite sure what's real and what is not. There are moments of genuine fear, and moment of genuine laugh out loud humor. But it's never easy. I almost feel like it needs to be watched twice. Moments come and go, and I know there's much more going on here than I could have caught the first time through, that's for sure. It's layers of paranoia and the effects of mental illness. No cheap shots, no jump scares. People may dismiss it, but there's a lot going on here.It feels like something I've never seen before.

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