'The Alchemist' (1983) – Charles Band.

B-Icon Charles Band's entertainingly schlocky supernatural horror hokum finds loving patriarch Aaron McCallum (Robert Ginty) righteously avenging himself upon the evil sorcerer DelGatto (Robert Glaudini) who maligned him, and his family, with so terrible a curse. Sluggishly paced, and the rudimentary effects are, perhaps, not exactly exemplars of the art, composer Richard Band's elegant theme is objectively wonderful, and I quite enjoy seeing tall, strikingly handsome Robert Ginty making a rare appearance in the schlock horror milieu. Not always entirely credible, 'The Alchemist' is certainly not for all terror tastes, and, arguably, may appear archaic to some. I can appreciate it for what it is, a mostly fun, earnestly fashioned, occasionally daft, low budget B-Horror oddity. The cast's performances are better than one might expect, with the beautiful Lucinda Dooling having an elfin, Talia Shire-like quality. The Alchemist's poor reputation is undeserved, perhaps, another diabolical curse that finally deserves to be lifted! The minimalist British poster art is still effective, I genuinely enjoyed the spookily rotoscoped portal, and grisly-looking demons! 

 “For this animal act, you will remain forever an animal!!!!”