The movie is, from the get-go, a tale about a man who's having a mental breakdown. Then some horror elements are introduced. But there isn't any push or pull for the viewer. We know none of this is real so the drama is lacking. Without any narrative drama we are left to follow a character who is given zero backstory and is grossly uninteresting. There are moments of great dialogue between the only two characters. Amari Cheatom is particularly good. In addition, there is some superb sound design for the horror surrounding us. The director wisely shows us little and leaves the horror all to our imagination and the sound design is the best element of that. But it's all for not as the story plods along at an uninteresting pace and ends up right where we suspected it would all along.
Review of The Alchemist Cookbook
The Alchemist Cookbook
(2016)
A movie with a lot of promise that doesn't deliver
15 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers