IMDb RATING
5.2/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
Suffering from delusions of fortune, a young hermit hides out in the forest hoping to crack an ancient mystery, but pays a price for his mania.Suffering from delusions of fortune, a young hermit hides out in the forest hoping to crack an ancient mystery, but pays a price for his mania.Suffering from delusions of fortune, a young hermit hides out in the forest hoping to crack an ancient mystery, but pays a price for his mania.
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- 1 win & 2 nominations total
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Featured reviews
This movie rules. Potrykus wanted to create an atmosphere of instability and hostility, and he did. The movie is well-written, well-metered, and it's a charming little pseudo-satanic romp. Don't listen to the baby brains on here crying because they didn't get it. It's not for everyone, but if you want something fun and challenging with a little dash of horror, this is a killer watch.
I knew this movie was going to be slow the moment I started it. Which is why I stopped watching it within 10 minutes in. I couldn't stand the slow pace. I wanted a story to watch! Give it a few months and I'm bored so I throw The Alchemist Cookbook on again as a way to lull myself to sleep. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I expected this movie to put me to sleep. There's nothing in this movie's story to keep you watching it. There's no hook, there's no deep significant lesson, there's absolutely no resolve; BUT THE ACTING. For one relatively unknown actor to carry this kind of film absolutely blows my mind. The acting of this film is what kept me glued to my screen. After a while I stopped caring what the story was. I didn't care for the script. Watching Ty work wonders with his character blew my mind. It's very rare, at least in my experience, to see movies like this get saved by an actor you've never heard about. This movie was definitely saved by Ty's acting. I wouldn't recommend this movie to a lot of people but that's only because I don't think they would appreciate it. For me the acting alone made this movie watchable. I'm not so sure it would be the same for others.
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.
It feels like something I've never seen before.
The Alchemist Cookbook has been getting some rave reviews so I decided to check it out since I am a fan of Great horror movies. This movie has literally only 2 people in the entire film but that's not my gripe and neither is the acting although it wasn't great a little too dramatic in some scenes with facial expressions that were not believable and dialogue at times leaves you wondering why is he saying this. But even though he's all alone in the middle of the woods it's just not creepy or scary at all. I also think the director & Writer of this film either under compensated for creating a good story or they were trying to be too artsy or psychological that the story doesn't progress well leaving you wondering what was the point of his mindset. Of course it's supposed to be a mystery to figure out but there is nothing to get out of it and at the point where they maybe could of explained a lot they don't and it will leave you frustrated that you sat there and watched basically nothing for a hour and a half... Forget what the clown critics say this one sorry to say is not a keeper.. skip it . You don't believe me go ahead watch it and just remember I told you so.
All I'll say is that you'll spend the whole time waiting for an amazing ending to happen, when in reality, you arrive at one of the stupidest, most aggravating endings of all time. This movie tries very hard to be a slow boil with the increasingly erratic and psychotic behavior of the main character. Mixed with constant scenes of his clearly degenerative mental state accompanied by his drastic actions, this leads the viewer to believe that the climax will be worth putting up with watching him lose his mind. In reality the entire movie is just a repetitive piece of garbage. Had potential and I can appreciate the actor's dedication and convincingness while portraying a man having/causing his own psychotic break, but unless you want to be incredibly aggravated when the credits roll, go ahead and choose something else.
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Joel Potrykus used the film as an experiment to see if the audience could care for a character, whom they have just been introduced to, in the middle of a mental breakdown.
- ConnectionsReferences Mad Max (1979)
- How long is The Alchemist Cookbook?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 22m(82 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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