There is an inevitable breakdown of Sean that can be felt from the beginning, but the unraveling takes a good amount of time to happen. The film feels slow at times, giving it more that arthouse feel that could turn off many viewers. This adds an interesting element to an already interesting selection of songs. The diverse music selection in the film is all introduced through Sean’s old, beat up boombox.

The soundtrack was another point of distinction. Nonetheless, the makeup design is impressive and noteworthy.

With the facial protrusions and sharpened teeth, there is a certain influence and connection to the Rosario Prestopino designed demons, though here the creature effects are more subtle and remain more realistically human. The makeup effects are pretty stellar, invoking the creatures of the Lamberto Bava rock’n’roll horror classic Demons. These questions of what is truly going on are presented in a way that makes it hard to ignore the importance of one’s mental health and treatment of mental health concerns. The questions are not answered in any clear way, which serves to further illuminate the uncertainty that such mental illness can create. There are implications that create questions about how much of what is going on is related to demonic presence and how much is possibly related to psychosis. The topic of mental health is tackled here in an interesting way. Fame and fortune are the goal, but Satan has other thoughts. Sean’s only friend, Cortez, faces the consequences of Sean’s bargaining as well. In Faustian fashion, Sean offers his teeth, his whole body, even his life… and the Devil collects. The Devil gets his due, as Sean continually throws his hopes for fame and fortune at the feet of the Dark One. This, of course, is a recipe for disaster, especially considering Sean’s mental health condition. However, he’s not just practicing any old alchemy, but an extra dark form of the ancient art that relies heavily on prayers to Satan himself. Our protagonist is a young man named Sean, living in a mobile home in the middle of the woods, where he is practicing the ancient pre-chemistry art of alchemy. With a large ensemble cast of two men and a gray cat, there is a ton of time for character development of the protagonist, who is on screen for just about all 82 minutes of the film’s runtime.

Summarizing plot in this film could be done in a mere few sentences, as the film is far less about the story than the unraveling of a man. The Alchemist Cookbook is unlike anything you’ve seen before. With this new one, Potrykus takes a small cast and an unconventional premise to create something interesting that is equal parts arthouse horror, black comedy, and dramatic thriller. His first two features, Ape (2012) and Buzzard (2014), were met with much acclaim, including several film festival prize nominations and awards. The Alchemist Cookbook is the third full length feature from director Joel Potrykus.

The alchemist cookbook film