Chemical Wedding

Chemical Wedding

Year: 2008

Runtime: 106 mins

Language: English

Director: Julian Doyle

HorrorThrillerMystery

In three days, his resurrection will be complete… A shy, stuttering professor brings satanist Aleister Crowley back to life.

Warning: spoilers below!

Haven’t seen Chemical Wedding yet? This summary contains major spoilers. Bookmark the page, watch the movie, and come back for the full breakdown. If you're ready, scroll on and relive the story!

Timeline – Chemical Wedding (2008)

Trace every key event in Chemical Wedding (2008) with our detailed, chronological timeline. Perfect for unpacking nonlinear stories, spotting hidden connections, and understanding how each scene builds toward the film’s climax. Whether you're revisiting or decoding for the first time, this timeline gives you the full picture.

1

1947: Crowley visits Trinity College

The elderly Aleister Crowley meets with Symonds and Alex at Trinity College to discuss resurrecting from the dead with sex magic rituals. From a betrayed letter, he learns one of his students disclosed the 'Moon Child' ritual. Crowley curses those who steal his time and spits blood before dying. Symonds takes Crowley's watch as the moment ends.

1947 Trinity College
2

The 50-year jump: Christmas at Trinity College

Fifty years later, during Christmas on the Trinity College grounds, Symonds narrates as a university lecturer and head of the local Masonic lodge. Alex is now a physicist bound to a wheelchair. A scientific project about linking a person to virtual reality uses the fictional Z93 supercomputer, and Dr. Mathers arrives from Caltech with a virtual reality spacesuit while journalist Leah Robertson arranges an interview.

circa 1997 Trinity College grounds
3

Caltech's Dr. Mathers arrives with a VR spacesuit

Dr. Mathers arrives from Caltech to oversee the Z93 project and demonstrates the virtual reality spacesuit. Leah Robertson conducts an interview with him, introducing the human–computer interface at the center of the mystery. The lab at Trinity College becomes the focal point for the experimental setup.

circa 1997 Trinity College lab
4

Victor and Haddo plant Crowley's binary code in Z93

Victor, a Crowley fan working as a programmer on the project, and literature professor Haddo conspire to place Aleister Crowley's binary code—the locations and contents of all rituals—into Z93 as a virus. Before the first official tests, Victor takes Haddo to the laboratory and Haddo puts on a spacesuit.

circa 1997 laboratory
5

Crowley inhabits Haddo; Aeon of Horus foretold

The next day, Crowley appears in Haddo's body and begins causing obscenities in lectures. He promises the Aeon of Horus will begin in three days when he is fully incarnated. Leah Robertson is the only one who suspects Haddo is Crowley and she conducts an investigation in the library.

the next day Haddo's lectures; Trinity College library
6

Crowley seeks followers and the final ritual

Crowley forces Victor to participate in a sex ritual, strengthening his hold on the ritual network. He begins to recruit followers as the countdown to his full incarnation continues. The tension escalates in the lab as the team tries to understand the threat.

three days before final ceremony laboratory
7

Brent in the spacesuit: VR journey and death

Mathers and Victor place Professor Brent in a spacesuit and Brent enters virtual reality, where he encounters Crowley. He suffers a heart attack, and his brain stops responding to the outside world. Leah and Mathers, with Symonds, try to prove Haddo was in the spacesuit before Brent's journey.

the following day lab
8

Investigation into Haddo's spacesuit involvement

Leah and Mathers, aided by Symonds, interrogate Brent under hypnosis to uncover Masonic terms that could reveal Haddo's involvement. They extract only a few terms, leaving the evidence inconclusive for the moment. The team shifts focus to deeper investigation into the ritual connections.

post-Brent VR incident lab / hypnosis room
9

Search for the Chemical Wedding location

Crowley searches for the red-haired girl to complete the 'Chemical Wedding' ritual, which would stabilize his power but cost multiple lives. Leah tails Crowley and Victor toward the site of the future ritual, trying to intervene before catastrophe strikes. The pursuit intensifies the sense of impending doom.

as ritual approaches site of the future ritual
10

Elemental from Parsons and Hubbard revealed

Alex explains that he brought from CalTech an Elemental—the result of a ritual performed in 1947 by Parsons and Hubbard—that could unlock the mystery. The team contemplates using it to locate Leah and disrupt Crowley's plans. The revelation reframes the stakes of the experiment.

mid-investigation lab
11

Mathers enters the spacesuit to locate Leah

Mathers dons the spacesuit to locate Leah, while Symonds stays at the control panel, switching the disc with Brent's journey recording and preparing to trigger the Space Flight Simulator to reverse time. Mathers discovers Brent was traveling into a black hole that consumes space and time. The tension mounts as the plan to reverse events takes shape.

during reversal preparations lab
12

Time reversal and the Haddo confrontation

Crowley materializes during the ritual, and Mathers appears near him but is separated by an invisible barrier. He breaks the barrier, knocks the syringe containing Leah's blood away, and fights Crowley. Symonds then activates the Flight Simulator and time begins to flow backward, undoing the last events.

during the reversal lab
13

Post-reversal amnesia and the parallel world threat

After the reversal, no one remembers the last three days. Alex explains there exists a parallel world where Crowley incarnates, making the situation more perilous. A lying newspaper claims Al Gore won the US election, and the watch Symonds carried has disappeared, hinting at altered reality.

post-reversal Trinity College campus
14

Final clues: Moon Child and the missing watch

The password to the spacesuit is Mathers's birth date, which coincides with Crowley's death. The computer displays the inscription 'Moon Child', while Haddo's lecture reveals that Crowley's watch has vanished. The film leaves the implications of the parallel world and the Moon Child mystery unresolved.

post-reversal lab / lecture hall

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 09:30

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Unlock the Full Story of Chemical Wedding

Don't stop at just watching — explore Chemical Wedding in full detail. From the complete plot summary and scene-by-scene timeline to character breakdowns, thematic analysis, and a deep dive into the ending — every page helps you truly understand what Chemical Wedding is all about. Plus, discover what's next after the movie.

Chemical Wedding Summary

Read a complete plot summary of Chemical Wedding, including all key story points, character arcs, and turning points. This in-depth recap is ideal for understanding the narrative structure or reviewing what happened in the movie.

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