A Desert

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1:39

A Desert

2025

1h 42m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

40 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A past-his-prime photographer heads out on a road trip across the American Southwest to recapture the magic and success of his previous work. Instead, he finds himself thrust into the dark and chaotic underbelly of America and unwittingly drags his wife and a shady private detective down into this nightmare world with him. A DESERT is a sun-bleached neo-noir horror film about time, the chaos of our world, and the relevance of images in the cultural desert we are faced with today.

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Critics Consensus

A metatextual meditation on cinema made with inventive style, A Desert's cerebral frights are enough to satisfy anyone parched for thoughtful horror.

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Jamie Graham

Empire Magazine

Dec 1

4/5

For a movie that opens in an abandoned cinema and possesses a strong meta dimension throughout, it’s only fitting that A Desert proves so potent, its mood and meanings impossible to shake.

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Leslie Felperin

Guardian

Nov 18

3/5

It’s perhaps not a very profound message, but the visual and editing styles are swoony and most bewitching.

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Simon Abrams

RogerEbert.com

05/02/2025

2/4

There’s only so much room for mystery in a movie whose surreal ambiguity only says so much.

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Emilie Black

Cinema Crazed

Mar 31

Some will love it, but for this viewer it was one of those misses where the film is neither good nor bad; it just is, and there is no greater cinematic sin than a bland film. Especially when it had potentially to be so much more.

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Caitlyn Downs

ScaredSheepless.com

Mar 27

4.5/5

Joshua Erkman's methodical thriller rewards audience investment with an accomplished assault on the senses.

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Bee Delores

B-Sides & Badlands

Mar 27

3.5/5

A Desert subverts expectations. It doesn't follow any sort of playbook, but instead, it invents its own rules. Joshua Erkman leaves a searing mark on horror, indicating that he has plenty more to say. He just needs time to say it.

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tm11999 M

@tm11999 May 7

yeah....uhhhh.....no splaining in this story. who's the bald guy in one scene?is the motel guy in on it? nobody can find his car, and the PI gets fooled and drugged by the devil people? the devil girl at the end is still alive? so desert communities don't have police or forensics? where does sam end up? don't watch this, EVER!!! go get a new pair of work boots, a nice pair of keens or red wings instead.

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Les N

@Vegas628 May 7

Great movie. Surely no woman is that useless?

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ELB E

@Mulholland Apr 6

This film definitely leaves a stamp on the soul. Several reviewers have complained that it is ‘murky’ or ‘bewildering.’ But this is the kind of film that I really appreciate. No easy answers, much left unsaid and unshown. But I see this as quite a strong point of the storytelling. There is more than enough plot framework and character development here. A sense of place resonates with increasing dread as the story unfolds. The ‘loose ends’ are far more intriguing and satisfying to me than a film that spells everything out and spoon feeds the viewer. If you enjoy David Lynch’s work (and I do) you will see quite a lot of him here - particularly ‘Lost Highway.’ This is a tense, horrifying, mystifying film - bold and dark, unsettling, sure-footed and grimly brilliant.

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Stoner J.

@Stoner Mar 19

2 stars because it was done well. But absolutely nothing is explained or makes sense. A waste of an hour and 40 minutes. It’s also extremely long and boring despite a decent runtime.

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Tim B.

@SlimTim0707 Feb 27

A Desert aims to be primarily character and event driven, and while uneven with both, it's just original enough to recommend.

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Phil S.

@Xenothos Jan 17

The movie had a good story but it was too slow. Would not classify this as a horror movie.

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A Desert: Trailer 1

1:39

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Synopsis

A past-his-prime photographer heads out on a road trip across the American Southwest to recapture the magic and success of his previous work. Instead, he finds himself thrust into the dark and chaotic underbelly of America and unwittingly drags his wife and a shady private detective down into this nightmare world with him. A DESERT is a sun-bleached neo-noir horror film about time, the chaos of our world, and the relevance of images in the cultural desert we are faced with today.

Director: Joshua Erkman
Producer: Hugues Barbier, Joshua Erkman, Justin Timms, Joe Yanick
Screenwriter: Joshua Erkman, Bossi Baker
Distributor: Dark Sky Films
Production Co: Capes and Fog, Yellow Veil Pictures
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 2, 2025, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 29, 2025
Runtime: 1h 42m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)