A Desert Expands to 40+ Screens – Where to See Joshua Erkman’s Surreal Thriller
Joshua Erkman’s genre-bending debut A Desert opened May 2 on a handful of specialty screens. Word-of-mouth and midnight-crowd buzz did the rest. Dark Sky Films and Yellow Veil Pictures have now pushed the movie into more than forty theaters and drive-ins across the U.S. and Canada, with several locations already adding late shows to meet demand. Below you’ll find a spoiler-free primer on the film’s plot and creative team, plus a market-by-market guide so you can plan your own trip into the wasteland.
What the Film Is About: Apocalypse, Grief, and a Hallucinatory Road Trip
A Desert centers on Clint Walker (cult icon David Yow, I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore), a burned-out handyman who drifts across the Sonoran badlands looking for odd jobs and forgetting why he’s running. When he stumbles onto an abandoned motel, Clint accepts work from its only resident—an unnervingly chipper preacher (Kai Lennox) raising a makeshift congregation of lost souls. What starts as day labor turns into a fever dream of buried trauma, mutant faith healings, and desert folklore made flesh.
Erkman shoots the landscape like a waking nightmare: blown-out daylight, sodium-flare nights, and wide shots that shrink the characters into specks beneath an endless sky. The plot walks a tightrope between grief drama and supernatural horror—think Paris, Texas colliding with Near Dark.
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Who’s in It: Cult Favorites and Rising Character Actors
| Actor | Role | You’ve Seen Them In… |
|---|---|---|
| David Yow | Clint Walker | Vocalist of The Jesus Lizard; actor in Dragged Across Concrete |
| Kai Lennox | The Preacher | Green Room, Nightcrawler |
| Sarah Lind | Mara | A Wounded Fawn |
| Zachary Ray Sherman | Jonah | Creep 2, Everything Sucks! |
| Ashley B. Smith | Ruth | Yellowjackets (guest) |
| Rob Zabrecky | Pawnshop Owner | Lost River, A Ghost Story |
Why It Sounds the Way It Does: A New Ty Segall Score
Garage-psych maestro Ty Segall composed a nervy, reverb-drenched score that bridges spaghetti-western twang and industrial drone. Live analog feedback underpins crucial set pieces, giving the supernatural flourishes an organic weight—like a possessed amp buzzing in the next room. Vinyl and digital soundtracks drop later this summer through Drag City; expect a limited run that disappears fast.
Release Timeline: From Specialty Houses to Nationwide Curveball
- May 2: Limited launch in four art-house cities—all sold out by the second weekend.
- May 10–17: Expansion to regional chains and drive-ins; Q&As with Erkman, Yow, and Segall helped build cult word-of-mouth.
- May 23: 40+ screens confirmed; most are weekend-only midnight slots, but several multiplexes (Ontario Mills 30, South Barrington 24, Quail Springs 24) are running daily evening shows.
Dark Sky is keeping print numbers low to maintain scarcity, so check your local theater’s website; some markets list A Desert simply as a “special engagement” with no showtimes until the week of.
Where to See It: Key Markets and Venues
Below is a trimmed list (full list on Dark Sky’s site). Each venue runs at least one full week unless noted. All bookings are subject to change.
West Coast & Mountain
- Los Angeles – AMC Del Amo 18, Block 30 @ Orange, Ontario Mills 30, Rolling Hills 20
- San Diego – Mission Valley 20
- Portland – Progress Ridge 14 (Beaverton), Santiam 11 (Salem), Vancouver Plaza 10 (WA)
- Phoenix – Ahwatukee 24, Westgate 20 (Glendale), Shea 14 (Scottsdale)
- Denver – SIE Film Center (arthouse), Westminster Promenade 24
- Anchorage – Regal Tikahtnu Commons 16 & IMAX
- Reno – Carson Valley 8 (Minden)
Midwest & South
- Chicago – Newcity 14, Village Crossing 18, South Barrington 24
- Dallas/Ft. Worth – Grapevine Mills 24, Mesquite 30
- Houston – Gulf Pointe 30
- Kansas City – Studio 28 (Olathe)
- Tulsa – Southroads 20
- Minneapolis – Coon Rapids 16
East Coast & Canada
- New York Metro – AMC Jersey Gardens 20 (Elizabeth, NJ), Crossgates 18 & Spectrum 8 (Albany)
- Boston Area – Gilford Cinemas 8 (NH)
- Washington, DC – Majestic 20 (Silver Spring)
- Philadelphia – Cherry Hill 24 (NJ), Neshaminy 24 (PA)
- Miami – Sunset Place 24
- Vancouver, BC – Vancity Theatre (arthouse engagement)
If your city isn’t listed, watch for pop-up drive-in bookings on the Dark Sky social feeds. The distributor is still slotting single-night “roadshow” events through July.
Ticket Tips and Post-Screening Extras
- Q&A Alerts: Venues marked arthouse (e.g., SIE Film Center, Vancity Theatre) often add one-night filmmaker or cast Q&As—sign up for their newsletters.
- Merch Tables: Select screenings sell limited Ty Segall score cassettes and A Desert enamel pins. Cash only at many drive-ins.
- Content Advisory: Rated R for graphic violence, unsettling images, and brief strong language. Runtime 104 minutes.
Why You Should Brave A Desert in a Theater
- Sound Design: Segall’s score and field recordings demand large-format speakers.
- Community Reaction: There’s joy in watching an entire row flinch at the film’s rug-pull midpoint.
- Print Quality: Dark Sky struck high-contrast DCPs mastered for low-light drive-in projection—no muddy night scenes.
If you miss the theatrical window, Dark Sky hints at a late-autumn Blu-ray with deleted motel sermons and a director-composer commentary. But horror cinephiles know: some movies deserve to haunt a big screen first.
So check your nearest multiplex marquee—or that scrappy drive-in off the interstate—and prepare to get lost in A Desert.
