The Heat Hits Home: A Desert Expands to Regional Theaters This Week
- Horror Movies Uncut
- 13 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Road Unravels in A Desert — Neo-Noir Horror Rolls Into Regional Theaters This Week
The latest nightmare vision from Yellow Veil Pictures and Dark Sky Films is finally hitting regional theaters, and it’s one worth tracking down. A Desert, the directorial debut of Joshua Erkman, slides onto screens May 2nd, pulling audiences deep into the heatstroke delirium of a country—and a mind—on the brink.
What starts as a midlife reboot for a washed-up photographer quickly curdles into a sun-scorched descent through the American Southwest. David Yow plays the grizzled lensman trying to recapture the ghost of former glory, only to stumble upon something far darker than faded fame. Alongside him, Kai Lennox and Sarah Lind deliver performances that spiral through dread, confusion, and existential collapse. It’s equal parts road movie and waking nightmare.
This isn’t your typical desert noir. Scored by garage psych king Ty Segall—whose upcoming album Possession drops May 30th—the film pulses with a woozy, feedback-laced energy. The music acts less like a soundtrack and more like an ambient panic attack creeping in from the corners of the frame.
A Desert leans hard into themes of memory, cultural rot, and the way images distort reality. Erkman asks not just what happens when you chase your past, but what kind of wreckage you leave behind dragging others with you. And in this case, that wreckage includes your wife and a very sketchy private investigator.
We’ll have our full review of A Desert up later this week, but let this be your early warning. Expanded regional theaters have just been added, so check the updated list to see if this fever dream is rolling into a town near you. If you like your horror slow-burning, surreal, and soaked in malaise, A Desert might be the pit stop you didn’t know you needed. Just don’t expect to leave the same way you came in.
Full list of Theaters
Sounds like a really intense and thought-provoking film! The description of the "ambient panic attack" soundtrack by Ty Segall is particularly intriguing – it really sets the tone. The idea of chasing the past and the wreckage it leaves behind is a powerful theme, and the Southwest setting seems perfect for exploring those ideas. It reminds me a bit of the feeling of disorientation and endlessness you get from playing something like Slope Unblocked, that kind of unsettling, persistent motion towards an unknown outcome. I'll definitely be looking out for this one on May 2nd! Thanks for sharing.