SXSW Film Festival 2024: DESERT ROAD

Desert Road is a surprisingly taut sci-fi tale that’ll draw you in and won’t let go. Its intelligence lies in its ability to merge genres and deliver a uniquely bewitching narrative that features a star-making lead performance. 

Our newest time-travel film is unlike one you’ve seen before, urging an inventive script and unforgettable heroine. It’s a banger and it’s also has a soulful resonance that ensures this ghost story will continue to haunt.

Clare (Kristine Froseth) is driving from LA to Iowa on California State Route 190. She’s headed home after feeling disheartened by her prospects of being a photographer. After an awkward encounter at a remote gas station with Randy (Max Mattern), she heads back on the road only to have a tire blow and her car hit a small boulder. Despite changing the tire, her car is stuck, and thus begins her journey to find help.

Clare attempts all potential avenues despite poor cell reception, as she seeks help from the increasingly strange Randy and calls a tow, but nothing seems to stick. Steve (Ryan Hurst), the tow driver and apparent sheriff of this small area, is an enigma too—just another piece of a disjointed puzzle that she alone has to connect. Even worse, time and space are shifting in illogical ways, making this fight for survival a feat of ingenuity. It seems that when she leaves the area she just keeps returning to the same spot, but each time the people and atmosphere are changed. 

Things Are Not Quite As They Seem

Shannon Triplett writes and directs this in her first feature, which couldn’t be more impressive. Besides the horror and sci-fi elements, this is a well-crafted thriller that traps the audience in this woman’s plight. As Clare becomes more aware of the terrifying reality she’s found herself in the film becomes increasingly compelling.

Kristine Froseth is fantastic, holding most of the screen time with ferocity. You never want to look away in fear you’ll miss something, and her emotional journey is as riveting as her physical one as the mind-bending plot unfolds. Triplett writes with precision, utilizing a trippy backdrop that’s grounded by a protagonist you wholeheartedly root for. It’s a clever twist on a simple concept that brings together a terrific cast and a limited locale. Desert Road’s riveting story is heightened by the bleak aesthetics at contrast with the heart at its center.

Conclusion:

Desert Road is what indie cinema should be. It’s ambitious, beautifully shot, and entertaining in all the right ways.