The Alchemist assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.7/10
IMDb: 7.7/10
Letterboxd: 4.13/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
Metacritic: 76
TMDB: 7.5/10
Director
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Production
ABKCO Films
Cast
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Horacio Salinas, Zamira Saunders, Juan Ferrara, Adriana Page, Burt Kleiner, Valerie Jodorowsky, Nicky Nichols, Richard Rutowski, Luis Lomelí, Ana De Sade, Jacqueline Voltaire, Chucho-Chucho, Letícia Robles, Connie De La Mora, David Kapralik, Pablo Leder, Bobby Cameron, Re Debris, Lupita Peruyero
Where to watch
IndieFlix
Curator Review
Verdict
A landmark of surreal, occult, and anti-bourgeois cinema: visually overwhelming, philosophically provocative, and deliberately unruly. It’s not meant to be decoded so much as experienced, and its impact is strongest for viewers open to symbolic excess, spiritual satire, and radical imagery.
Best for
fans of surreal and experimental cinema
viewers interested in occult symbolism and spiritual allegory
people who value bold visual design over narrative clarity
cult-film enthusiasts
audiences curious about 1970s counterculture art cinema
Skip if
you want a straightforward plot
you dislike graphic, blasphemous, or confrontational imagery
you need emotional realism or conventional character arcs
you prefer restrained pacing and clean symbolism
Overview
The Holy Mountain is one of cinema’s great acts of provocation: a fever dream of ritual, satire, mysticism, and grotesque beauty. It treats narrative like a ladder to be kicked away, replacing it with tableaux that feel designed to shock, seduce, and unsettle in equal measure. The result is less a story than a procession of images that lodge in the mind long after the credits end.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is not coherence but conviction. Jodorowsky attacks religion, consumerism, power, and spiritual vanity with the same ecstatic intensity, and the film’s visual invention is astonishing from start to finish. Every frame feels handcrafted to overwhelm the senses, whether through pageantry, absurdity, or sudden eruptions of violence and sacrilege.
Bottom line
This is not an easy recommendation, but it is an essential one for adventurous viewers. If you’re willing to surrender to its logic, the film becomes a singular cinematic experience: funny, repulsive, transcendent, and deeply strange all at once.
Top Letterboxd reviews
DirkH (5★) · 2850 likes
So this is what happens when you turn the bible into a Rorschach test.
Completely and utterly transcends the medium.
Insanely beautiful and beautifully insane.
autocinephilia · 1740 likes
The Holy Mountain is by far the most visually amazing film I have ever seen. Every shot of the movie is composed to absolute perfection; Jodorowsky pays attention to every detail of each scene and utilizes imagery better than most directors. As a director, Jodorowsky lets his dreams and feelings guide every aspect of his films, and by putting an unaltered snapshot of his imagination on-screen, he is able to create some of the most beautiful images in cinema.
The… more
russman (4★) · 1631 likes
Ugh, another reminder that Pluto isn't officially a planet anymore
Karsten (4.5★) · 1568 likes
Finally got around to this thang.
Really enjoyed it, specifically the ending. Really drove home a lot of interesting approaches to how society looks at desire and success. Few pretty pretentious spots here and there, but does that matter? Does anything even matter? Does this review even matter?
Stacey B (4.5★) · 1546 likes
me: *sees a bunch of lizards and toads dressed up in costumes* nice
me: *sees lizards and toads get blown up* not nice