A Desert

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1:39

A Desert

2025,

1h 42m,

Horror/

Mystery & Thriller

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83%

40 Reviews

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Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

40 Reviews

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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.

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, 2025

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, 2025

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

May 2, 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, 2026

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, 2026

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, 2026

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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Joshua Erkman

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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)

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