A Desert

There have been lots of films about voyeurism. Merriam-Webster defines it as (a) the practice of obtaining sexual gratification from observing others and (b) the practice of taking pleasure in observing something private, sordid, or scandalous

As movie watchers, we all fall into the later category. Hitchcock's Rear Window, Brian De Palma's Body Double, Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas, to name a few, have overlapping themes about our collective desire to watch others. Sitting in the dark watching - to see a film is to be a pervert (you heard it here first folks - ha). So A Desert falls into this bucket. It also falls into the "psycho in the dessert", film noir category - think of films such as, Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Wild at Heart, and No Country for Old Men. A Desert is the debut film from writer and director, Joshua Erkman. It's a banger. Visually it's stunning. What's it about? It's about a photographer Alex Clark (Kai Lennox) who is on a spiritual/artist journey to re-find himself by taking pictures of abandoned and dilapidated buildings as he did for his first book of photography. At a motel he runs into Renny (Zachary Ray Sherman)  and Susie Q (Ashley Smith) who seem to have walked out of the Natural Born Killers audition. As you might imagine, things go off the rails. There is a private detective played by David Yow and Alex's wife, played by Sarah Lind. These five actors were utterly fabulous - I was very impressed. For a debut film with a relatively unknown cast, A Desert feels like it ranks up there with some of the best of the genre. This horror film is one I know you want to watch, you perv! Streaming now on Shudder.