Brutal Neo-Noir Thriller A Desert Turns Abandoned Places Into the Stuff of Nightmares

Some thrillers leave you entertained. Others leave you staring at the screen after the credits, trying to figure out exactly what you just experienced. Joshua Erkman’s 2024 film A Desert belongs firmly in the second category.

The movie begins as a story about a photographer chasing the success he had more than two decades ago. Then it takes a turn so brutal that the entire movie seems to change underneath you.

What starts as a road trip through the American Southwest becomes a disturbing blend of murder mystery, psychological thriller, supernatural horror and neo-noir. The film runs for roughly 103 minutes and was directed by Joshua Erkman, who co-wrote the screenplay with Bossi Baker.

And once A Desert reveals what happened to its apparent protagonist, there is no going back.

A Photographer Looking for a Second Chance

Kai Lennox plays Alex Clark, a photographer whose career has been stalled for years. His one major success came more than 20 years earlier, and now he is traveling across the country in an attempt to rediscover the inspiration that once made his work successful.

His specialty is photographing beautiful, abandoned locations, and the road trip is meant to provide material for the book he is working on.

Back home, Alex has the support of his wife, Sam, played by Sarah Lind. But their situation is far from comfortable. Sam encourages him to pursue the project while also reminding him that another billing cycle is approaching and they are already in the red.

Alex’s trip quickly becomes something much darker.

While staying at a rundown motel, Alex encounters a volatile couple from the neighboring room: Renny, played by Zachary Ray Sherman, and Susie Q, played by Ashley Smith.

Renny and Susie Q draw Alex into a night of drinking. The situation is especially troubling because the film strongly suggests that Alex is in some form of recovery. Renny eventually pimps Susie Q out to him, and Alex wakes the following morning with little memory of what happened.

That encounter turns out to be far more important than it initially appears.

The Twist That Changes the Entire Movie

Alex later crosses paths with Renny again, this time without Susie Q.

Renny offers to show Alex his childhood home, an abandoned property that he believes would be perfect for the photographer’s book. Along the way, he launches into stories about UFOs and supernatural beings that he claims to see regularly.

Then the movie takes a horrifying turn.

Renny suddenly stabs Alex to death and drinks his blood. The implication is even more disturbing when the film gives viewers a broader look at Renny’s surroundings and suggests that this may not be the first time he has killed someone.

At this point, A Desert effectively removes the character audiences assumed was the protagonist.

Rather than following Alex’s journey to its expected conclusion, the film pivots into a noir-tinged investigation.

Sam and Detective Simon Begin Following the Trail

With Alex missing, Sam turns to Private Detective Simon, played by S.A. Griffin.

Simon has some knowledge of the family’s history and agrees to investigate what has happened. His search takes him back through the locations Alex visited during his trip, gradually connecting the seemingly disconnected events that preceded his disappearance.

The deeper Simon digs, the worse the situation becomes.

The basic setup matches the film’s official description: a photographer’s attempt to recapture the success of his earlier work sends him into the dark underbelly of the American Southwest, ultimately pulling his wife and a shady private detective into the same nightmare.

That structural shift is one of the movie’s biggest strengths. What initially appears to be Alex’s story becomes Simon’s investigation, while everything that came before takes on a different meaning.

A Bleak Thriller That Refuses to Offer Comfort

A Desert occupies an unusual space between psychological horror, mystery, thriller and neo-noir. Its festival description similarly characterized it as an unpredictable, horror-tinged neo-noir, while the film’s official materials place it squarely in the horror and thriller categories.

The movie also makes striking use of its surroundings.

Wide shots of deserts, empty structures and other abandoned locations give the film a sense of isolation long before the story becomes overtly horrifying. The landscapes can look beautiful one moment and deeply unsettling the next.

That contrast gives A Desert much of its personality. The scenery initially resembles the kind of material that could revive Alex’s photography career. Instead, those same isolated locations become connected to violence, mystery and increasingly disturbing revelations.

There is also a faint Southern Gothic quality to the atmosphere, even though A Desert does not strictly belong to that subgenre. Its desolate settings, strange characters and relentlessly grim tone create a similar sense of decay and unease.

Nobody in this movie seems to be having a particularly good time.

Well, almost nobody.

Don’t Expect a Happy Ending

The early twist is crucial to experiencing A Desert, so the less you know about the film before watching it, the better. Once Alex’s fate becomes clear, the movie’s real story begins.

From there, Detective Simon’s investigation provides the structure, taking viewers deeper into the places and people connected to Alex’s disappearance.

The film premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, where it was presented as part of the festival’s Midnight lineup.

Its cast includes David Yow, Kai Lennox, Sarah Lind, Zachary Ray Sherman, Ashley B. Smith, Rob Zabrecky and S.A. Griffin.

For viewers who enjoy thrillers that steadily strip away their sense of safety, A Desert has plenty to offer. But it is an unusually bleak watch, and its disturbing material can linger long after the mystery has been resolved.

Go in expecting a conventional road-trip thriller and the movie may catch you completely off guard. Go in expecting something dark and strange, and it still has plenty of unpleasant surprises waiting.

If you can handle that atmosphere, A Desert is currently available to stream for free on Tubi, where it is listed as a 2024, 1-hour-43-minute TV-MA horror, thriller and mystery film.

Watch A Desert for free on Tubi