The Alchemist Cookbook is about twenty different films in one, none of which would ever be expected together.

So you’ve got a backwoods thriller vibe, a seedy satanic story, a wacky indie character study – and that’s without mentioning Sean and Cortez’s goofy buddy comedics. While The Alchemist Cookbook certainly wont be for everyone, it will surely delight and surprise those who can grok its. Self-made chemist Sean, a recluse living in an old trailer in the woods, suffers from pill-popping delusions of fortune. Tiny hints suggest Sean might be suffering from mental illness, but then black magic and fortuitous intentions reveal dark powers could also be to blame (plus toxic fumes). Sean’s symbolically marked journal is never addressed in definition, nor does Sean bother with chatty exposition. Potrykus’ greatest achievement is never sticking to one subgenre, always shifting in tone whenever structural comfort seeps in. That, or there really is a creature lurking around the woods outside… Surprisingly (sarcasm), Sean needs medication to remain somewhat balanced – which Cortez forgets to include in his latest delivery. Without his pills, Sean slowly begins to lose his grip on reality until paranoia completely takes over. His only companions are a grey cat named Kaspar ( Fiji), and Cortez ( Amari Cheatom), who brings him supplies every so often. He has no connection to the outside world, and spends all his time playing around with chemistry recipes found in a strangely marked book.

Ty Hickson stars as Sean, a loner who inhabits a tiny, nowhere shack in the middle of the woods.

The alchemist cookbook 2016