Building a hypnotic blend of fascination and dread that pushes the boundaries of horror and sci-fi stories is a powerful skill that genre filmmakers often long strive to achieve in their careers. Up-and-coming writer-director, Shannon Triplett is doing just that with her first feature, Desert Road.
The new thriller chronicles how the project’s protagonist has a momentary lapse in judgment. That blunder turns her pit stop on the titular highway into a ever-deepening nightmare that she’s determined, but is seemingly unable, to escape.
Desert Road follows fledgling photographer Clare (Kristine Froseth) as she embarks on the long drive from L.A. to Iowa. Her backstory and reason for her solitary trip is shared via phone calls with her mom (Rachel Dratch). An aspiring photographer who has missed out on many opportunities because she insists she isn’t talented enough, Clare has decided to leave L.A. and drive back home to her family in Iowa.
During her cross-country trip, Clare stops at a remote, but otherwise seemingly normal, desert outpost on a stretch of Death Valley for gas and snacks. However, she grows suspicious and worried when she has an off-putting run-in with the stop’s ominous gas station attendant (Max Mattern).
As she’s leaving the outpost, Clare’s worry increases when she crashes into a small boulder not far from the station. As a result, she has no choice but to walk back to the station for help, where the attendant acts even stranger than before.
Desperate for anyone else to provide assistance in the eerily isolated town, Clare decides to walk from the station to find help. However, she soon finds herself back at her car again. No matter which way she walks, she keeps encountering the same locations and always ends up back at her broken-down car. As night sets in, Clare worries that she may never escape the loop she’s stuck in.
With her sparse but equally enduring script, Triplett built the movie’s mystery at a naturalistic pace. The secrets behind why Clare is trapped in the desert are revealed as a intriguing slow burn in real time as she discovers how she entered the time loop. Since the protagonist initially struggles with finding the reason why she became stuck on the eponymous location, believable misdirects about the danger she’s experiencing are introduced before she uncovers her true destiny.
Triplett’s genre-bending script and stellar direction offered Froseth the opportunity to create a riveting, vulnerable performance as Clare as she embarks on her disorienting road trip. As she initially stops at the gas station, feeling defeated over not yet getting her big break as a photographer in L.A., the protagonist is presented as innocent and still trying to figure out her place in the world.
But the further Clare delves into the mysteries of the time loop she’s fallen into, Froseth emphasizes how her character has become more self-reliant and resilient. The actress brings her character on a overarching journey of self-discovery that proves her true will to live and achieve whatever goals she sets for herself.
Froseth’s riveting portrayal of Clare as she’s propelled into her disorienting physical and emotional journey in the remote, barren stretch of Death Valley is set against striking visuals. Triplett, who worked in visual effects before penning and helming Desert Road, used her background to her advantage while working with the feature’s cinematographer, Nico Navia.
The duo decided to capture sweeping wide shots of the barren California desert to emphasize the haunting loneliness and emptiness Clare feels while trying to break the loop. From the establishing shots of the gas station where her haunting journey begins to the extensive coverage of the only other building in the area – a sprawling, aging factory – that also fails to offer her refugee later in the story, Navia’s cinematography propels the story’s sense of terror.
With her sparse but equally enduring script, Triplett built Desert Road‘s mystery at a naturalistic pace. The filmmaker’s stellar direction of her genre-bending script offered Froseth the opportunity to create a riveting, vulnerable performance as Clare.
The actress’ chronicle of her character becoming more self-reliant and resilient as she fights for survival in the barren desert is captured by the drama’s cinematographer, Nico Navia. The imagery emphasizes the haunting loneliness and emptiness Clare feels while trying to break the loop.
As a surrealist sci-fi horror movie, Desert Road leads its old-fashioned thriller storytelling, character building and visuals to often spellbinding effect. As a result, Triplett’s inventive first feature will surely become an enduring classic.
Overall: B+
Desert Road screened at the 33rd Philadelphia Film Festival last month, after it had its World Premiere at this year’s SXSW in March.
If you like the review, share your thoughts below!