A DESERT
****
Directed by Joshua Erkman.
Starring Kai Lennox, David Yow, Zachary Ray Sherman, Sarah Lind.
Horror, US, 103 minutes, Certificate TBC.
Reviewed as part of Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024
Any number of horrors lurk in the deserts of America yet it feels like largely unexplored territory on screen. Joshua Erkman’s debut film explores the landscape in a truly nightmarish fashion with this enticing neo-noir, horror odyssey that shifts effortlessly across genres yet ultimately ends up as its own unique creature. Ostensibly the story of Alex, a once acclaimed photographer looking for inspiration with his vintage camera across the deserts of America for a new book. Alex documents the ruins and hollowed out landscapes of a country slowly rusting away under the harsh, white-hot desert sun. With his wife Sam, at home miles away in LA, Alex’s nomadic journey hits a bump when he encounters his motel neighbour Renny, an intimidating fellow who looks as if he’s crawled out from the ruins of the nearest abandoned bomb shelter.
To say anything more of where Renny, and his very friendly sister Suzie, lead Alex would be to venture into serious spoiler territory. A DESERT is one of those films, like DEAD MAIL which also played at FrightFest two days before, that leads its audience on an unpredictable journey. It can be revealed that a run down private eye named Harold, played by none other than David Yow, looking and behaving completely different from his days as lead singer of seminal grunge band The Jesus Lizard, gets involved. How Harold’s own story, and past, are folded into the storyline is completely engrossing. The viewer is left guessing, and on edge, from the first scene to the last, of how certain characters and scenes will join up together. Even after viewing there are questions still needing an answer to go along with several frightening scenes that refuse to leave your brain.
Low in budget but high in ambition and execution this is yet another highly exciting debut,promising more great and interesting work from its director, who also co-wrote the script with Bossi Baker. One of the most original and intriguing films of the year, it provides further proof of how the indie horror scene is pushing and stretching itself out into new and uncharted territory. As a horror it works effortlessly at getting under your skin, biding its time patiently to unveil the true horrors that have slowly been bleeding through from the edges since Alex ventured out looking for inspiration but finding something else entirely. As a neo-noir it works just as successfully with its shabby private eye trying to shed the sins of his past whilst getting in over his head with an unknown force that he is completely unprepared for.
Yow is completely convincing as said private eye, leading his client, and the audience, down yet another unpredictable path whilst Zachary Ray Sherman bridles with a bristling livewire energy that threatens to lash out in ever more unpredictable ways. Kai Lennox anchors the film as the unsuspecting Alex, while Sarah Lind, star of the also great A WOUNDED FAWN from two years ago, gets her own chance to prove her worth as Alex's wife Sam is led more and more into the film's secretive narrative.
Where this all leads to is eye-opening stuff, culminating in a nightmarish sequence that starts out as disturbing and ends up as something more hallucinatory that will have fans of Stanley Kubrick sitting up and taking notice. Even with a limited budget Erkman immediately proves himself as a director and writer to keep a close eye on in the future so it will no doubt be just as thrilling to see what he can accomplish with even more resources at hand. Cool, thrilling and horrific, A DESERT was one of the best films to play in an already strong line-up at this year's FrightFest and will also go down as one of the best films of the year.
Iain MacLeod
