Review: The Alchemist (1983)
Lucinda Dooline picks up a hitch-hiker John Sanderford but this isn’t a cautionary tale about hitch-hiking or picking up strangers. Instead, these two barely acquainted characters have to deal with a man (C-grade action star Robert Ginty) suffering from a curse afflicted upon him by a sorcerer (Robert Glaudini) in the late 1800s. This man (who is somehow still alive) is convinced that Dooline is the spitting image of his wife who was stolen by the sorcerer. Oh, and about that curse…it gives him immortality but occasionally transforms him into some kind of beast. Yeah. I certainly have been known to be a cinematic contrarian from time to time, but it’s relatively rare for my own reaction to a film to be the polar opposite of the majority. This 1983 fantasy/folk horror outing was one of the biggest surprises for me when going through the filmography of producer/director/studio head Charles Band ( “Parasite” , “Puppet Master” ) over the last year or so. In addition to having a troubled pr...