The Alchemist Cookbook (2016) on Netflix
Sean lives in a trailer in the woods, testing chemicals from an old alchemy book with his cat, Kaspar. When his pills run out, he arms himself with an axe.
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- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb5.2/102,043 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Trailer
Plot summary
Sean's experiments with an old alchemy book get him nowhere, and the sounds that come from the forest around his trailer bother him. He takes pills regularly; when the supply runs out, he locks himself inside with an axe, certain he is being watched. His friend Cortez arrives with supplies, but the pills are not among them, and Cortez refuses to make the three hour round trip for more. Without them, Sean's hold on his surroundings slips. He puts out animal traps and rows onto the lake, saying he means to call up a demon and hand over whatever it asks, his body and teeth included.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Alchemist Cookbook (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- On the first day of filming, before he had even met star Ty Hickson, a nervous Joel Potrykus took an anxiety pill and passed out.
- The cast is entirely African American, a conscious choice by director Joel Potrykus to "take the white people out of the movie".
- Joel Potrykus got the idea for the film after seeing an old friend who didn't recognize him and wondering if the man was a doppelganger; that idea grew into a script about a weird guy in the woods practicing alchemy.
- The Alchemist Cookbook was Joel Potrykus's third film, after Ape and Buzzard, and his first horror; it was also the first time he cast professional actors instead of non-actors he knew.
- Potrykus gave the camera one strict rule: it moves only when the characters move, and holds still when the characters do not move.
- The alchemy book used by Sean, the film's protagonist, was made by director Joel Potrykus specifically for the film.
