A DESERT Is a Bleached-Out Nightmare of Obsession and Collapse

David Yow spirals into madness and memory in Joshua Erkman’s eerie neo-noir horror A DESERT.

Opening in select theaters on May 2, A DESERT is the haunting new neo-noir/horror hybrid from first-time feature director Joshua Erkman. Distributed by Dark Sky Films, the movie has already stirred major festival buzz, earning awards and acclaim at Tribeca, FrightFest, Sitges, and Beyond Fest.

The film will premiere in Los Angeles on May 1 at American Cinematheque Los Feliz 3, with cast in attendance. Additional theatrical screenings begin May 2 at Roxy Cinema (Tribeca) in New York City and Laemmle Glendale in Los Angeles, with more cities to be added.

A DESERT follows a once-renowned photographer (played by David Yow) who sets off on a road trip across the American Southwest, desperate to recapture the creative spark of his earlier work. Instead, he finds himself pulled into a chaotic, hallucinatory nightmare that drags both his wife and a mysterious private detective into a dark spiral of obsession and corruption.

Written by Joshua Erkman and Bossi Baker, and produced by Yellow Veil Pictures, A DESERT is described as “a sun-bleached, neo-noir horror film about time, the chaos of the world, and the relevance of images in the cultural desert we are faced with today.”

🎬 Cast Includes:

• David Yow (Dinner in America, I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore)

• Kai Lennox (Green Room, The Girl from Plainville)

• Sarah Lind (A Wounded Fawn, Die, My Love)

• Zachary Ray Sherman (Under the Banner of Heaven, 90210)

• Ashley B. Smith (Off Ramp, Extremity)

• Rob Zabrecky, S.A. Griffin

🎵 Score by:

Ty Segall, whose new album Possession drops May 30

🌟 Festival Recognition:

• Official Selection – Tribeca Film Festival

• Best Film – FrightFest (Total Film Award)

• Best Actor (Zachary Ray Sherman) – FrightFest

• Best Feature – New Visions – Sitges

• Official Selections – Beyond Fest, Ramaskrik

A DESERT is produced by Hugues Barbier, Joshua Erkman, Justin Timms, and Joe Yanick. Distributed by Dark Sky Films, this genre-bending, slow-burn thriller marks one of the most distinctive feature debuts in recent memory.

🗓 In theaters beginning May 2.