A Desert

A Desert

American wilderness, decay and the flashing neon lights of dodgy motels in a neo-noir thriller

A photographer with an artistic flair wants to take pictures of the real America – a doom and gloom desert, full of human trauma, deliberately abandoned buildings, where only hopelessness sprouts and it’s easier to lose a life than to tank a fill-up. When he meets weird siblings in a dingy motel, he suddenly disappears without a trace. A shady detective with a screwed-up moral backbone is searching for him, while the background of the story includes some sick porn and degeneracy that brings to mind the prose of Cormac McCarthy.

“The Desert” is a neo-noir thriller with elements of horror, which is beautifully shot and yet repellent. After a screening like this, you usually crave a shower, and after the acting performances, you feel like checking to see if the payroll sometimes includes the shady dwellers of trailer park estates. The atmosphere of Joshua Erkman’s debut work is suspenseful and as thick as blood, and a lot of it is pouring here. But the macabre is not the nail on the head – this film is first and foremost depressing. The Mojave Desert is a ring of hell, America’s deserted roads a sure road to death and roadside roadhouses crime scenes. Echoes of David Lynch’s ‘Lost Highway’ are heard here, as well as inspiration from Southern Gothic films.

Director Joshua Erkman is best known for his shorts, which have been well received at festivals around the world. For his first feature-length work, he invited names familiar to fans of contemporary horror cinema and actors known for their roles in popular series. On screen, Splat!FilmFest audiences will certainly recognise Ashley Smith, who we saw last year in our world premiere of the excellent “Off Ramp”. Besides her, ‘The Desert’ features David Yow (the new “Toxic Avenger”), Kai Lennox (“Fargo” series and the wonderful “Green Room”) as well as Zachary Ray Sherman (“Under the Banner of Heaven”).