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A DESERT

  • filmsinreview
  • May 24
  • 3 min read

by Victoria Alexander



A strong debut movie with a strange, forbidden setting. A terrifying point of view by the director and a true horror tale.


A DESERT starts painfully slow with a middle-aged man, Alex Clark (Kai Lennox), driving through the Mojave. What a horrible landscape. The Mojave was magic to photographer Alex two decades ago. His books are only filled with photographs of desolate, abandoned hovels.

Alex’s first book of photography, “Death of the New West” was the peak of his creative abilities. Alex’s work has become stale, so he tells his wife Samantha (Sarah Lind) he is going to re-visit the Mojave, the landscape of his most successful photos to recapture the magic.


On Alex’s drive to nowhere, he stops to take photos with his elaborate 8 x 10 ancient camera. He calls Samantha every day. She suggests he do something radical and photograph real people.


(Large format 8 x 10 cameras are still available on eBay.)


This long stretch finally ends when Alex stops at a rundown motel. He needs to sleep but the couple next to his room are arguing. He calls the motel clerk (Bill Bookston) to complain. A DESERT’s casting director hit the jackpot with Bookston and the freaky, confident break-out villain Renny (Zachary Ray Sherman).


The “neighbor” knocks on Alex’s door to apologize. Renny is a squirrelly little man in a dirty t-shirt, yellow teeth and 100 pounds topped by unruly hair. Renny sees the camera and asks Alex if he would take a photo of him and his sister. Alex is a big guy and clearly not afraid of Renny, but he’s not street smart – Renny would look casually dangerous to everyone.


Renny brings his “sister” Susie Q (Ashley B. Smith) and a bottle of strong liquor. Music starts playing and Susie Q starts being seductive. It gets raunchy.


Renny and Susie Q are seductive, enthralling characters.


The next morning Alex gets up with a hangover. He’s not sure what happened. Renny meets up with him and says he wants to take Alex to a very special place no one has ever seen.


They drive out into the desert. With a guy like Renny, you have to be careful what you say. It’s easy to make Renny paranoid and unreasonably angry.


Alex says something that Renny takes as an insult.


Samantha hasn’t heard from Alex in over a week. Your mature, professional photographer husband has set off for a photo-taking trip. The police tell her to let them know if you haven’t heard from him in a month. With no help from the police, Samantha hires a private detective, Harold Palladio (David Yow). Palladio does not have a spotless record but he agrees to retrace Alex’s steps. He soon lands at the same motel. He meets up with Susie Q, plying her trade. And then Samantha turns up.


After Palladio’s assignation with Susie Q ends, Renny arrives. With all the characters in one place the carnage begins. The director, Joshua Erkman and cinematographer Jay Keitel, have made a film that deserves a second viewing.


"The ALL is Mind; The Universe is Mental."


Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer Critic.

For a complete list of Victoria Alexander's movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes go to:


Contributing to:FilmsInReview: http://www.filmsinreview.com

Member of Las Vegas Film Critics Society



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