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Occult horror is a broad umbrella that deals with the esoteric, witchcraft, mysticism, alchemy, spiritualism, cults, magic, and supernatural beliefs beyond mainstream religion and science. That pursuit of arcane knowledge yields no shortage of nightmarish terror here in the world of horror cinema, whether through violent cultists or demonic forces from another plane.

This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to occult horror movies that unsettle with haunting depictions of secret societies, sects, and supernatural terror. Here’s where to stream them.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

A Dark Song – AMC+, Shudder

Sophia Howard (Catherine Walker) contracts an acerbic, callous occultist, Joseph Solomon (Steven Oram), to help her enact the Abramelin Operation, a grueling 18-month dark magic ritual to meet with a guardian angel and receive a granted wish. As daunting as the spell can be, Sophia risks their work, lives, and souls by harboring a hidden agenda.

Like the punk-rock cousin of Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy, Joel Potrykus’ Vulcanizadora also concerns a voyage in the woods that pinpoints the exact moment an old friendship abruptly dies. The film also represents a maturing-of-sorts for the Michigan-based provocateur, revisiting characters first introduced in his 2014 film Buzzard and a few themes explored in his lesser-known 2016 feature The Alchemist Cookbook. Like many artists shifting from early to mid-career, Potrykus explores themes of having a family––or, in this case, abandoning it––while still retaining the edge present in his nascent works. It suggests a conundrum of sorts, but while other indie filmmakers start small and work towards scaling-up, this filmmaker refreshingly hasn’t..

Vulcanizadora revisits the story of Marty Jackitansky (Joshua Burger) and Derek Skiba (Potrykus) as two guys that take to the woods outside Grand Rapids for a somber weekend of hanging out. Derek, recently divorced, works a desk...

Strap in, folks, there's a new Joel Potrykus film premiering. Potrykus is the indie filmmaker behind such peculiar, unsettling cult classics as Ape, Buzzard, and The Alchemist Cookbook. This is his latest feature, the first since Relaxer in 2018. The original logline for Vulcanizadora is intriguing though fairly vague: "Two friends take a trip through a Michigan forest, intent on carrying out a disturbing pact. When their plan fails, one confronts unsettling repercussions at home." Starring Joel Potrykus, Joshua Burge, Bill Vincent, and Solo Potrykus. It's premiering at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival this month, still seeking distribution. The festival adds: "the film expertly navigates multiple tones, striking a balance between the bizarre and the emotionally resonant." Hmmmm... There's not much to this teaser either, barely any footage, only another close-up look at this strange metal contraption going on this guy's head. What is it? Who wants to find out? // Continue Reading...

A filmmaker synonymous with American indie film but hasn’t been picked by Sundance in his first four features in Ape (2012), Buzzard (2014), The Alchemist Cookbook (2016) and Relaxer (2018), perhaps the narrative will change with his fifth feature which moved into production this past summer in Michigan. Joel Potrykus‘ Vulcanizadora sees his muse Joshua Burge for what is naturally a dark comedy.

Gist: This is described as a mind bending ride of comedy, suspense and utter devastation.

Production Co./Producers: Ashley Potrykus, Dan Berger, Dweck Productions’ Hannah Dweck, Factory 25’s Matt Grady.

Prediction: Next.

Sales: Factory 25.…...

The twisted mind behind The Alchemist Cookbook is back with another entry in the slacker horror subgenre. Joel Potrykus’ latest, Relaxer, looks like a hysterical (and gag-inducing) blend of 1990s-era nostalgia and the apocalyptic paranoia surrounding Y2K and fears of a technological glitch that threatening to end all life as we know it. The film […] The post Slacker Horror Relaxer Mixes 90s Nostalgia and Apocalyptic Y2K Paranoia appeared first on Dread Central.

"You do not leave this couch until the challenge is completed!" Oscilloscope Labs has debuted the trailer for a demented, wacky indie film titled Relaxer, which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival last year. Relaxer is the latest work from American filmmaker Joel Potrykus, who has been making some super funky little films including Ape, Buzzard, and The Alchemist Cookbook. This one is just as funky as all of those: With the impending Y2K apocalypse fast approaching, Abbie is faced with the ultimate challenge - the unbeatable level 256 on Pac-Man - and he can't get off the couch until he conquers it. A survival story in a living room. Starring Joshua Burge, David Dastmalchian, Andre Hyland, Madi Bachman, & Amari Cheatom. This looks totally gross and ridiculous, but apparently "an unforgettable experience" according to one critic. Here's the first official trailer (+ crazy poster) for Joel Potrykus' Relaxer, direct from YouTube...

With the elongated awards season behind us, it’s time to turn our attention to the 2019 cinematic offerings and this month is a doozy. Featuring some of the greatest films we saw on the festival circuit in the last year as well as a few hugely promising new releases, it’s a varied, impressive slate. There’s also one film that I full-heartedly despised and couldn’t bear to mention, but other writers here feel on the other end of the spectrum, so it should at least provoke some heated discussion this month.

Matinees to See: Greta (3/1), The Hole in the Ground (3/1), Woman at War (3/1), The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (3/1), Leaving Neverland (3/3 & 3/4), Triple Frontier (3/6), Gloria Bell (3/8) Two Plains & a Fancy (3/8), The Mustang (3/15), The Eyes of Orson Welles (3/15), The Aftermath (3/15), The Hummingbird Project (3/15), Ramen Shop (3/22), Hotel Mumbai (3/22), The Highwaymen (3/29)

15. Giant Little Ones (Keith Behrman; March 1)

Considering the breadth of films...

While many indie filmmakers like Andrew Bujalski started making films in apartments with their friends and scaled up to larger projects, Michigan-based madman Joel Potrykus has gleefully and unapologetically scaled down as his career has progressed. His fourth outing, Relaxer, barely even takes place in an apartment, but rather in the corner of a living room where Abbie (Joshua Burge) is stuck on a couch for nearly six months. While staying there, his cruel (or tough love) brother Cam, (David Dastmalchian), gives him a series of challenges. For the first one, he needs to drink a gallon of curdled milk out of nine baby bottles. Under the watchful eye of a Sony handicam, he’s not permitted to leave the couch under any circumstances until he’s finished.

It’s these type of scenarios that are all over Relaxer, an unsettling and unapologetic comedy of untold horrors. A borderline masterpiece of “what the fuck” insanity,...

Great cinema is sometimes grand themes, dramatic camerawork, and sophisticated montage; or, it’s a guy playing “Pac Man” for 90 minutes. Joel Potrykus’ “Relaxer,” the latest wacky gambit from the Michigan-based provocateur, finds the “Buzzard” director reteaming with his perennial star Joshua Burge, again taking a cartoonish lowbrow approach to acerbic social critique. Set on the eve of Y2K, “Relaxer” exclusively takes place in the confines of a living room, where Burge’s character endures prolonged attempts to reach an impossible high score on the the aforementioned video game, while enduring hardships that include milk vomit, fecal matter, overheated cartridges, and rat poison. It’s a grotesque downward spiral, both hilarious and mesmerizing, but above all elevated by its insights into the depraved final gasp of the analog age.

Media scholar Neil Postman diagnosed the ills of entertainment media in his aptly titled 1985 tome “Amusing Ourselves to Death;” that...

Sibling sadism turns absurdist in Joel Potrykus' Relaxer, in which a passive man-child endures baffling deprivation for no reason other than that his big brother dared him to. The follow-up to the Michigan filmmaker's The Alchemist Cookbook and Buzzard, both of which featured outcasts with trouble in mind, the claustrophobic, one-set film clearly invites metaphorical readings — but its allegories will play best to viewers who can stomach the idea of spending eternity on a couch playing Nintendo.

That's pretty much what Joshua Burge's Abbie does here, while his tiny world crumbles around him. We meet the shirtless dweeb in the...

The annual multi-pronged South By Southwest Conferences and Festivals — SXSW, of course — is hitting Austin, Texas later this week for days and days of fresh film offerings (plus music, interactive, and a litany of exciting panels and conversations). With it comes the promise of a brand new festival-going season, along with a slew of films to get excited about finally checking out (and, because it’s Austin, lots of tasty barbecue).

From SXSW regulars like Mark Duplass and Joel Potrykus to rising stars like Carole Brandt and Suzi Yoonessi to marquee names like Wes Anderson and John Krasinski, this year’s SXSW Film Festival is offering up a robust new slate. We’ve picked out a dozen worthy new features to add to your SXSW schedule.

Check out 12 new films from this year’s SXSW that you’re going to want to see Asap.

“A Quiet Place”

The last thing...

“It’s a job.” –Arthur Martinez I had two features as a cinematographer under my belt by late June of 2015, both close and comfortable collaborations with a single director: Joel Potrykus (Buzzard, The Alchemist Cookbook). It seems fitting that he made the phone call I received only a week and a half before Actor Martinez began principal photography. Joel eagerly informed me that two directors, Nathan Silver (Stinking Heaven, Uncertain Terms) and Mike Ott (Lake Los Angeles, Littlerock), had contacted him asking about my nearly immediate availability. I didn’t know them personally, but I certainly had been aware of their […]...

Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.

Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)

A travelogue through one artist’s subconscious, Cameraperson is perhaps the most plural film of 2016 – a formal, tonal, situational, and pacing exercise that lulls viewers into thinking it’s set on one thing before turning towards seemingly new territory. And it never feels out-of-balance because director Kirsten Johnson has, by building this film around moments that “marked” her, granted such an intimate experience that it almost feels wrong to intellectualize much of anything that’s going on here,...

“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover” is a proverb whose simple existence proves the fact impressionable souls will do so without fail. This monthly column (with a special year-end retrospective today) focuses on the film industry’s willingness to capitalize on this truth, releasing one-sheets to serve as not representations of what audiences are to expect, but as propaganda to fill seats. Oftentimes they fail miserably.

2016 wasn’t just a great year for films — the posters advertising them were quite fantastic too. That’s not to say we weren’t inundated at the multiplex with character sheets spanning Disney cartoon and photo-real superheroes to boring portraits on loud backgrounds, though. It was simply easier to ignore them.

I could put together a completely different list sorted by typography (The Alchemist Cookbook, La La Land, The Land, and Peter and the Farm) or illustration (Childhood of a Leader, Knight of Cups,...

A movie trailer is a very risky thing. The best ones are light on plot and heavy on atmosphere, and thankfully we got a handful of trailers this year which took that mantra to heart. Of course some of the year’s best films also had the year’s best trailers (there’s a reason “Moonlight” became everyone’s most anticipated indie back in August), but in a few cases we got trailers that were so amazing they set the bar just a little too high (here’s looking at you, “The Neon Demon”).

Read More: The Best of 2016: IndieWire’s Year in Review Bible

As our year in review coverage continues, we decided to pick the 12 most memorable trailers of 2016. Below are the trailers that stood out and the ones we find ourselves drawn back to watching over and over, even if we’ve already seen the movie.

This past October, Kino Lorber picked up the distribution rights to Oren Shai’s debut feature film “The Frontier,” a noir western about a drifter who starts working at a diner on the outskirts of Phoenix only to discover its inhabitants are all accomplices in a million-dollar heist. She soon plans to steal the cash for herself. The film stars Jocelin Donahue (“The House of the Devil”), Kelly Lynch (“Drugstore Cowboy”), Jim Beaver (“Deadwood”), Izabella Miko (“Step Up All In”), Jamie Harris (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D”); Aj Bowen (“The Sacrament”), and Liam Aiken (“Ned Rifle”). Now, the film is available on VOD and digital platforms. Watch two exclusive clips from the film below.

Read More: ‘The Frontier’ Exclusive Trailer: A Female Drifter Hatches a Plan To Steal Stolen Cash From a Gang of Thieves

“With ‘The Frontier’ I wanted to capture the feeling of reading an old vintage paperback,...

It came as no surprise in October that Michael Moore’s secret documentary “Michael Moore in Trumpland” was a pro-Hillary Clinton film urging Americans to vote for the democratic presidential nominee on November 8. Moore has been one of the most vocal and politically active filmmakers of his generation, if not the most active, and he felt that too much of the election conversation was dominated by negativity.

Read More: Michael Moore’s Plan to Show ‘TrumpLand’ to ‘Millions of People’ Before the Election

“I just thought, I’m going to do something here and give people positive reasons to think about voting for her,” Moore said at the film’s premiere in New York on October 18. “What the country doesn’t need is to be told that Trump is crazy, dangerous, a psychopath and sociopath. He has written and produced that movie, and it appears daily.”

While most filmmakers...

Editor’s Note: After a two-week vacation break, we are back with an expanded selection to catch up on what we missed! Enjoy below.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

13th (Ava DuVernay)

Humanity gave birth to inequality. The American experience is rooted in institutionalized racial inequity. Our forefathers came to this nation either by choice or by force. Once here, this distinction coalesced into a convoluted caste system driven by notions of survival and supremacy,...

It’s been awhile since we’ve been this… delirious? We sat around getting angsty and antsy for almost two hours before recording, and it turned out hilarious. Why, you ask? This shit right here, dawg… this is our first fuckin’ video episode!… Continue Reading →

The post Who Goes There Podcast: Episode 87 – The Alchemist Cookbook appeared first on Dread Central.

Celebrating its ninth consecutive edition, the Razor Reel Flanders Film Festival has revealed a full slate of high-caliber movies. True to its roots as a fantastic film festival while unafraid to cover some new ground, the Flemish fest still takes place in the historic city center of Bruges, in the Cinema Liberty; from 10th – 15th November.

Beginning the festivities on Thursday the 10th of November, Razor Reel looks to Belgium-born Johnny Galecki for inspiration by hosting the national premiere of The Master Cleanse. Following its opening film with another screening at midnight, Razor Reel presents the long-awaited Belgian premiere of The Devil’s Candy, Sean Byrne’s ode to heavy metal Satanism. Closing the festival in style on Tuesday the 15th of November is South-Korea’s zombie-outbreak horror Train to Busan, which has delighted audiences around the world since its Cannes 2016 premiere.

In between these genre fest regulars Razor Reel...

Editor’s note: with Joel Potrykus’ new film The Alchemist Cookbook now available for purchase, we’re unlocking writer/director Alex Ross Perry’s appreciation of his work from our Summer 2015 issue. Joel Potrykus’s Buzzard is either an extremely difficult or very simple movie to embrace. On the one hand, it contains enough juvenile/dumb/low humor to elicit honest guffaws alongside of-the-moment ’90s nostalgia to appeal to those of us raised on horror VHS tapes and Nintendo. Insults are clever and land with precision. The characterization of idiot manchild culture is somehow at once both obvious and insightful. More challenging to embrace, notice or even appreciate are the […]...

A couple of years back, writer/director Joel Potrykus earned some buzz for the edgy comedy “Buzzard,” and now he’s returned with another distinctive picture in “The Alchemist Cookbook.” Screening at SXSW, BAMcinemaFest, Fantasia, and more, the film has been earning some chatter on the festival circuit. If you’re even halfway curious, Oscilloscope Laboratories has made the movie available on BitTorrent for pay-what-you-wish.

Continue reading Exclusive: Rock Out With The Smoking Popes In Clip From ‘The Alchemist Cookbook’ at The Playlist.

Joel Potrykus’ third feature, The Alchemist Cookbook, further cements the writer-director’s status as one of the most interesting and unusual new voices in American independent film. A darkly funny chamber piece set at a secluded trailer home somewhere in Michigan, it centers on an alienated young man (Ty Hickson of Gimme The Loot) as he attempts to summon a demon. Like Potrykus’ earlier films, Ape and the superb Buzzard, it’s a portrait of a loser increasingly consumed by his fantasies of getting back at the world.

But what The A.V. Club wanted to talk to Potrykus about was food: the junk food, messy dinners, and cheap sodas that seem to be such an important part of his characters’ lives. He’s devoted extended scenes to a plate of spaghetti, a game played with Bugles, and a man daring himself to eat cat food. The A.V. Club...

Oscilloscope Laboratories’ The Alchemist Cookbook is now out, utilizing BitTorrent Now‘s Pay-What-You-Wish platform, which allows viewers to part with however much they determine a product is worth. Director Joel Potrykus has written a blog post about his decision to go down this avenue, stating: “I’m no Radiohead, I’m no Girl Talk. I’m no Ti West, even. So, we’ll see how this […]...

The “pay what you want” pricing strategy has been a boon for many artists trying to circumvent traditional distribution models and release strategies. Radiohead brought major awareness to the concept when it released its 2007 album “In Rainbows,” and now indie filmmakers like Joel Potrykus are utilizing the method to control the release of their work, like his latest film “The Alchemist Cookbook.” The film follows young outcast Sean (Ty Hickson) who has isolated himself in the woods with his cast Kaspar to pursue his alchemic pursuits. Though his experiments start out innocent enough, they soon turn to black magic in order to crack the secrets of nature, and naturally things go awry, awakening something far more sinister and dangerous. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.

Read More: ‘The Alchemist Cookbook’ New Trailer: Daring Film Heads to BitTorrent as Pay-What-You-Wish Deal

As to why Potrykus decided to release the...

(Charles Poekel caught up with Joel Potrykus at Bam Cinemafest regarding his latest film The Alchemist Cookbook. The result is the following chat which is one of the best interviews you’ll read all year! Potrykus’ film is available Now in a pay-what-you-want format.) I caught up with Joel Potrykus (Buzzard, Ape) after his newest film, The Alchemist Cookbook, played […]...

October is upon us. The leaves are changing. Sweaters are becoming more abundant. Awards contenders are popping up in theaters nationwide. But those are far from the only films opening throughout the coming weeks. Below, you’ll find every planned theatrical release for the month of October, separated out into films with wide runs and limited ones. (Synopses are provided by festivals and distributors.)

Each week, we’ll give you an update with more specific information on where these films are playing. In the meantime, be sure to check our calendar page, where we’ll update releases for the rest of the year. Stay warm and happy watching!

Week of October 7 Wide

The Birth of a Nation

Director: Nate Parker

Cast: Aja Naomi King, Armie Hammer, Gabrielle Union, Jackie Earle Haley, Mark Boone Junior, Nate Parker

Synopsis: Set against the antebellum South and based on a true story, “The Birth...

The Alchemist Cookbook will stand as one of 2016’s most bizarre, you-gotta-see-this genre darlings. Science, evil summonings and isolation? Filmmaker Joel Potrykus flips the “cabin in the woods” stereotype on its head with a manic analysis of obsessive insanity, all with the promise of demonic forces to come.

Scenes are fractured by outlandish chapter titles such as “Abusing Magic” and “Dismembering It All,” while a heretic hermit combines chemicals without any regard for safety (sorry, except a gas mask he puts on his cat). So much jovial weirdness around early scenes masks the consuming darkness that soon follows after, until only anxious terror remains. Woodland horror movies usually involve slashers, monsters and what have you – thankfully, Potrykus’ latest is anything but typical.

Ty Hickson stars as Sean, a loner who inhabits a tiny, nowhere shack in the middle of the woods. He has no connection to the outside world, and...

Taking place in Bruges, Belgium, the Razor Reel Flanders Film Festival's complete lineup was recently announced, giving horror fans plenty of good reasons to circle November 10th–15th on their calendars, as the anticipated screenings include The Devil's Candy, I Am Not a Serial Killer, The Barn, Teenage Cocktail, and more.

Press Release: Bruges, Belgium - October 5, 2016 - Celebrating its ninth consecutive edition, the Razor Reel Flanders Film Festival has revealed a full slate of high-caliber movies. True to its roots as a fantastic film festival while unafraid to cover some new ground, the Flemish fest still takes place in the historic city center of Bruges, in the Cinema Liberty. Film fans are welcome to attend from 10-15 November.

Beginning the festivities on Thursday the 10th of November, Razor Reel looks to Belgium-born Johnny Galecki for inspiration by hosting the national premiere of The Master Cleanse. Following its opening film with another screening at midnight,...

Earlier this month we announced that Joel Potrykus’ latest film, The Alchemist Cookbook, will be released via BitTorrent Now on a pay-what-you-wish basis beginning October 7th, and now we have a fun promo to share: paper dolls that were made… Continue Reading →

The post Want to Play? The Alchemist Cookbook Has Some Paper Dolls for You! appeared first on Dread Central.

Cinelicious Pics has acquired all North American rights to Tim Sutton’s critically acclaimed “Dark Night.” Billed as “an artfully understated critique of American gun culture,” the film is “loosely based around the 2012 massacre that took place during a multiplex screening of ‘The Dark Knight’ in Aurora, Colorado.” Sutton’s feature uses pseudo-documentary technique and a cast of non-professional actors to chart the course of six strangers — including the eventual shooter — over one fateful day. The film was shot in Sarasota, Florida, and lensed by veteran French Dp Helene Louvart and boasts an original score by Montreal-based Maica Armata.

The film debuted at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was later selected as Closing Night Film at Bam CinemaFest. In recent weeks, the film played out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, where it took home the Lanterna Magica Award.

Read More: Sundance Review: ‘Dark Night’ is a Gorgeous Look...

October is all over the place this year, as far as movies are concerned: new installments of the Ouija, Da Vinci Code and Jack Reacher franchises; several would-be contenders for awards-season chatter; some phenomenal lower-profile releases; and Jim Jarmusch's long-in-the-making superfan doc on Iggy and the Stooges. And that's not even counting the two-and-a-half-hour Korean erotic revenge flick coming soon to a theater near you. The weirdos all come out for Halloween, so take this month to let your freak flag fly.

The Accountant — 10/14

Just when it looked like...

Buzzard, Joel Potrykus’ idiosyncratic and darkly funny portrait of an increasingly paranoid and psychotic Midwestern slacker, established the director as a talent to watch. And in keeping with the underground ethos on display in all of Potrykus’ films, his follow-up, The Alchemist Cookbook, is being released as a “pay what you want” download through BitTorrent Now.

This isn’t unusual for a micro-budget indie, but the kicker here is that The Alchemist Cookbook isn’t self-distributed. In fact, the whole thing is being handled by Oscilloscope, the respected indie distributor co-founded by late Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys fame. While same-day releases to VOD or digital platforms like iTunes have become popular among the indie and arthouse distributors, the choice of delivery and pricing model represents a step in a different direction.

Potrykus has written about the plan in a post for Bundle.Media that addresses his own feelings about...

Along with the debut of a brand new trailer (above) for Joel Potrykus’ The Alchemist Cookbook, distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories has announced that the film will be released via BitTorrent Now for pay-what-you-wish on October 7th. The Alchemist Cookbook is a portrait of a Sean, a young hermit in the woods who sets out to solve an old mystery, and loses his mind along the way. Starring Ty Hickson and Amari Cheatom, the film premiered at SXSW and screened at various other festivals including BAMcinemaFest and Fantasia. Potrykus, who previously directed Ape and Buzzard, recently penned an Op-Ed about why he’s a fan […]...

If you prefer to keep your Brad Pitt news confined to the screen, here’s one for you: a new trailer for “Allied,” Robert Zemeckis’ World War II thriller co-starring Marion Cotillard. Said to be based on a true story, it stars the two as a pair of assassins who fall in love while plotting to assassinate a Nazi official in 1942. Watch the newly released trailer below.

Read More: ‘Allied’ Trailer: Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard Play A Game Of Spies In Alluring WWII Thriller

“Being good at this kind of work is not very beautiful,” Cotillard laments in the opening moments, which give way to touches of romance and shootouts over the next 60 seconds. Lizzy Caplan, Matthew Goode, Jared Harris and Camille Cottin all co-star; Steven Knight (“Eastern Promises,” “Locke,” “Peaky Blinders”) wrote the screenplay.

Read More: ‘Allied’ First Look: Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard Are Espionage Lovers In...

Pairing up two of Hollywood’s most bankable — and beloved — movie stars is kind of a no-brainer, but sticking them inside an ambitious (and, for a long time, seemingly ill-fated) sci-fi romance like Morten Tyldum’s “Passengers” is certainly a bit of a gamble. Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt topline Tyldum’s new film, which sees them as “passengers” (cough) on a swanky spaceship heading to a distant colony that runs into some unforeseen issues along the way (the nicest of which appears to be a big, glossy love story, the worst of which might be imminent death).

Pratt stars as a seemingly regular guy — he’s good with his hands! — who has booked passage to the space colony in what seems to be the modern version of steerage. When Pratt’s Jim wakes up from some good old-fashioned cryosleep, he’s initially unbothered by the fact that no one else is up yet.

For fans of filmmaking dynamic duo Joel and Ethan Coen, the news that the Criterion Collection had restored the brothers’ debut feature, the wicked 1984 crime drama “Blood Simple,” was reason enough to get excited, but that the new release comes with a bevy of special features (as is the Collection’s wont) was almost too wonderful to be believed. In celebration and anticipation of this week’s release of the restoration, the Criterion Collection has released one of the package’s special additions, a clever, meticulous and dead entertaining look at the storyboards of the classic feature.

The new video essay also gives some wonderful insight into the craftsmanship of the brothers, long a staple of their works. During the course of the film’s restoration, photographer Grant Delin created the video essay, one that compares scenes from the film to their original storyboards and includes commentary from the Coens,...

If you’ve ever been desperate enough to retreat into the Michigan wilderness and employ alchemy as a means of attaining wealth, you’re in luck! Joel Potrykus’ (“Buzzard,” “Ape”) latest feature, “The Alchemist Cookbook,” does just that and then some.

The good news: All that fresh air and solidarity can really give you time to think on things. The bad news: You might accidentally summon Satan. Watch the film’s newest trailer below.

Read More: The Indiewire Springboard: Joel Potrykus Makes Weird Little Movies In Michigan. Now He’s Fielding Offers From Hollywood. What’s Next?

In the new trailer, Ty Hickson (“Gimme the Loot”) stars as Sean, a hermit who ventures out into the forest in an attempt to materialize money via alchemy, but winds up discovering some something much more terrifying. Juxtaposing dark comedy with bizarre horror, Sean’s descent into madness is as absurdly eccentric as it is grim.

Oftentimes, some of our most inspiring national tales happen right under our noses and don’t receive the attention they deserve, such as the the story of Elouise Cobell, a petite Blackfeet warrior from Montana who took on the United States government, and the focus of the new documentary “100 Years: One Woman’s Fight For Justice.” As a Treasurer of her tribe, Cobell discovered a trail of fraud and corruption leading from Montana to Washington D.C. involving mismanaged Indian Trust accounts. In 1996, she filed the largest class action lawsuit ever against the federal government, and after 15 years and three Presidential administrations, she finally prevailed. Watch an exclusive trailer for the film below.

Read More: ‘The Seventh Fire’ Exclusive Clip & Poster: Terrence Malick Presents Doc About Native American Gang Culture

The film is directed by Melinda Janko, the founder of Fire in the Belly Productions. On the film, she says,...

Oscilloscope Laboratories is responsible for bringing some offbeat, strange movies to larger audiences. They're the ones who have given movies like Exit Through The Gift Shop, Bellflower, Samsara, and Meek's Cutoff either theatrical or home video releases, and their latest film looks way more "out there" than those films. Here's the trailer for Joel Potrykus' The Alchemist Cookbook, a trippy-looking movie about a guy living alone out in the woods who starts messing with chemicals and eventually encounters Satan (yep). I don't know if this is something I'll be checking out personally, but I'm sure some of you will dig the stylized weirdness you'll find here.

There's no official release date set, but you can pre-order the movie for $14.99 on Oscilloscope's website right here. What do you think?

Young outcast Sean has isolated himself in a trailer in the woods, setting out on alchemic pursuits, with his cat Kaspar as his sole companion.

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week […]

The post This Week In Trailers: The Alchemist Cookbook, In the Shadow of the Hill, Cameraperson, Silicon Cowboys, Dancer appeared first on /Film.

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– L.A.-based outfit Strand Releasing has acquired U.S. rights to Michael O’Shea’s Cannes premiere “The Transfiguration.” The film was sold by Protagonist Pictures at Toronto, and it marks the feature debut of writer-director Michael O’Shea. The atmospheric feature puts a new spin on the vampire movie.

“Mr. O’Shea’s film is a unique hybrid that audiences and critics will be compelled by,” said Strand Releasing’s partner Jon Gerrans, who discovered the film at Cannes. No word yet on release plans.

– Oscilloscope Laboratories has announced that Joel Potrykus’s latest dark comedy, “The Alchemist Cookbook,” will be available worldwide for pay-what-you-wish via BitTorrent Now on October 7, before it screens in select theaters across the country.

Following up one of the most impressive American independent films of the decade thus far, Buzzard, director Joel Potrykus is back with The Alchemist Cookbook, which premiered at SXSW earlier this year and will be released by Oscilloscope this fall. Following a hermit who attempts to crack the code for an ancient mystery but winds up paying a price for his ambition and mania, the first full trailer has now arrived.

As we said in our review, “I bet another viewing would reveal missed details, but the threat of being wrong and finding myself enduring the slow, quiet madness again scares me. I want to hear the growl of whatever lies in waiting at the beginning to match it with noises at the end. I want to contrast Sean’s attitude before Cortez’s initial visit with the aftermath of his second. And I want to pay attention to the...

"Just walking around in my mansion, in the woods, in my robe..." Oscilloscope Labs has released the full trailer for indie film The Alchemist Cookbook, from director Joel Potrykus who last made the cult hit Buzzard. This film is about a young outcast named Sean, played by Ty Hickson, who is holed up in a trailer in the woods with "The Alchemist Cookbook" and his cat trying to devise twisted schemes for vanquishing his enemies. After going too far with a recipe, he "awakens something far more sinister and dangerous". There's some funky footage in this trailer, but the best part is the quote from Variety about "if you only see two American indie features co-starring Satan this year..." You have to appreciate a unique trailer like this. Here's the full trailer (+ poster) for Joel Potrykus' The Alchemist Cookbook, in high def from Apple: You can still watch the...

Earlier this year, filmmaker Joel Potrykus had the NYC debut of his latest film “The Alchemist Cookbook” at the eight annual BAMcinemaFest. Starring Ty Hickson of “Gimme the Loot,” with Amari Cheatom of “Newlyweeds” fame in the only supporting role… Continue Reading →...

To celebrate the debut of a brand new trailer for The Alchemist Cookbook, an announcement has come that the film will be released via BitTorrent Now on a pay-what-you-wish basis beginning October 7th. Directed by American indie auteur Joel Potrykus… Continue Reading →

The post The Alchemist Cookbook Cooks Up a New Trailer and Release Strategy appeared first on Dread Central.

Top brass at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival announced on Thursday the 2016 Première Brazil selection, comprising 14 features and six documentaries.

Selections include Erico Rassi Comeback, Felipe Sholl’s The Other End and Cristiane Oliveira’s A Woman And The Father.

The 2015 Première Brazil best fiction feature winner was Gabriel Mascaro for Neon Bull, while Petra Costa and Lea Glob earned documentary honours for Olmo And The Seagull.

The festival runs from October 6-16. Click here for the line-up.

Damien Chazelle’s awards season contender La La Land starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone has been selected as the centrepiece screening at the Middelburg Film Festival in Virginia on October 22. Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs will take part in a keynote conversation. The festival runs from October 20-23.Samuel Goldwyn Films and Eammon Films are partnering to distribute James Sadwith’s Coming Through The Rye, a coming-of-age film about the filmmaker’s childhood efforts to meet...

"Feeling down?" Oscilloscope Labs has debuted the first quick teaser trailer for an indie film called The Alchemist Cookbook, from unique filmmaker Joel Potrykus, who last made the cult indie hit Buzzard starring Joshua Burge. This film is about a young outcast named Sean, played by Ty Hickson, who is holed up in a trailer in the woods with "The Alchemist Cookbook" and his cat. After going too far with one of the recipes, he "awakens something far more sinister and dangerous". The poster gives you a little hint at what that might be since this teaser doesn't offer much to work with. If you're curious about this one, have a look. Here's the first teaser trailer for Joel Potrykus' The Alchemist Cookbook, found on YouTube (via Tfs): Young outcast Sean has isolated himself in a trailer in the woods, setting out on alchemic pursuits, with his cat Kaspar as his sole companion.

The first strange, intriguing teaser has been unleashed for the SXSW premiere The Alchemist Cookbook. The third feature from Joel Potrykus, who last delivered the brilliant Buzzard, the film concerns a hermit attempting to crack the code for an ancient mystery, but winds up paying a price for his ambition and mania. The teaser opens with a distorted, zoomed-in image of Donald Trump announcing his run for presidency, followed by the hermit sharpening a blade. Whether or not this visual connection relates to the final product is unclear, but it is an eerie and relevant concoction that makes for a memorable teaser.

We said in our review: “I bet another viewing would reveal missed details, but the threat of being wrong and finding myself enduring the slow, quiet madness again scares me. I want to hear the growl of whatever lies in waiting at the beginning to match it with noises at the end.

I have no clue why Sean (Ty Hickson) messes with the titular book in Joel Potrykus‘ The Alchemist Cookbook. He doesn’t seem to care about money while living as a hermit inside a hidden trailer deep within the woods—bill collectors “no longer owning him”—so gold is out of the question. It might be for an elixir of immortality, his ritualistic incantations recalling satanic verse in search of dealing with a demonic presence that only pentagrams and dead animals hope to conjure. Why Sean plays with forces that push him beyond the boundaries of chemistry is ultimately beside the point. What his journey reveals is the slippery slope of sanity caused by isolation from humanity. Paranoia, anger, and fear arrive quickly; the only transmutation occurring is his.

The film’s title card mimics the cover of William Powell’s The Anarchist Cookbook, a publication brought to fruition as...