Horror in the High Desert Review

I have a ton to say, but I’ll summarize: Dutch Marich popped off.

I’ll admit, the first Horror in the High Desert film took me a few attempts to get into. When it sucks you in, though — get ready.

We’ve now gotten three out of a planned five-film series by Dutch Marich and it still feels like we’ve just begun. The films are slow-paced pseudo-documentaries interspersed with found footage by the subjects, and they play their cards close to the chest. While the slow-drip of information and pacing could be frustrating for some viewers, all three films rely the audience’s imagination and expectations. I’d liken the Horror in the High Desert series to the Blair Witch Project, relying on building tension rather than jumpscares and overt answers.

The first entry in the series introduces us to Gary Hinge, an avid outdoorsman and survivalist who lives in Nevada and goes missing while on one his many excursions. Gary is an incredibly likable guy, which adds to the growing dread. His story is told through his sister Beverly (Tonya Williams Ogden), his roommate Simon (Errol Porter), reporter Gal Roberts (Suziey Block), and the private investigator hired by Beverly, Bill Salerno (David Morales). The actors really sell the story, so much so that numerous people believed that this was a real documentary. Beverly in particular is completely believable, flawed but sympathetic. Aside from the acting, the story is heavily inspired by Kenny Veach, a real-life vlogger who went missing in the Nevada desert in 2014, leading to some added confusion.

Indeed, this first film heavily leans into the thriller, true crime documentary style. It focuses heavily on Gary as a person and how his disappearance has affected those around him. Marich takes his time building up the lore and details of what happened to Gary, giving us just enough to grasp onto.

That is, until the last 20 minutes.

It’s hard to explain without spoilers, but the last sequence is an absolute masterclass in how to create fear without overt jumpscares. Despite seeming slow to start, the film does a wonderful job of holding the audience’s hand to the end of the cliff just to show us something absolutely batshit. And I love it.

Minerva diverges from Gary’s story and focuses on Minerva, nicknamed Minnie, whose arc opens up several cans of worms regarding the series’ encompassing storyline. Her story and the circumstances around it are told largely by actors who are actual locals, which adds to the immersion. Minnie is taking a geology course in Nevada, but due to a housing issue she is given an isolated, dilapidated single-wide trailer. Aside from the disbelief I have that a 30-something-year old woman from New York would be okay with such an arrangement, this setup is intriguing.

Minnie’s tale, and especially the trailer in which she resided briefly, reveal a significant amount of information about the desert’s mysteries. Belongings initially believed to be Minnie’s turn out to be — well, someone else’s. Some of the details within don’t fully sink in until the next entry — a choice that I absolutely loved after seeing Firewatch, but had a hard time understanding the first time through.

In addition, Minnie’s story abruptly concludes and we instead shift focus to a third character, Ameliana, in a jarring and clunky transition. Ameliana is a woman who had also gone missing in the same area where Minnie was. While her segment gives us some of the best scenes of the film, including another incredible end sequence, Ameliana doesn’t have any direct connection to Minnie. I had to rewind, thinking I’d spaced out and missed a connecting thread somewhere, but no. We’re just suddenly done with Minnie’s case just a little over halfway through the film titled Minerva. This is honestly my biggest gripe in the whole series thus far, and it stands out so much because everything else is so tight. Gary is also only briefly mentioned, adding to the scattered feeling of the film.

Firewatch bridges a gap between the first two films while adding yet another layer. It recontextualizes a lot of what we’ve already seen and reveals a lot more, leading to some significant “ah ha!” moments. It follows Oscar Mendoza (Marco Antonio Parra), an influencer who is briefly introduced to us at the end of Minerva. He claims to have information about Gary that no one else has, but this claim is overhyped. While it does get him further than anyone else has so far, insinuating that he had something incredible when it’s revealed to be relatively mundane is disappointing. This is not to say that it doesn’t have implications for the rest of the story.

Oscar travels to Nevada from Mexico and hits the ground running. Through talking to locals, context clues and good old fashioned deduction, Oscar figures out where Gary’s final videos were shot. I loved Oscar as a character and watching him become humbled by the isolation and beauty of the desert. Oscar, for better or worse, finds purpose in his investigation into the disappearances and doesn’t back down from the many challenges it brings. Parra beautifully captures Oscar’s changing mindset and determination to be the one to get some answers. Returning characters from the previous films help provide context, but Gary, Minerva and Ameliana all take a backseat.

It’s hard to explain without blatant spoilers, but I can’t help but feel a bit frustrated. There are such incredible scenes and storytelling elements throughout, but they’re interspersed with character and world-building elements that don’t seem necessary. These scenes weigh down the films. I understand that some of this is stylistic, as the true crime documentaries they’re parodying are also apt to have a meandering runtime with exposition. For a horror movie, it has varying returns. If you find documentaries boring, the scares in the Horror in the High Desert films may be too few and far between to keep you engaged.

On a related note, I generally love slow-burn films but some scenes felt unnecessary. I can’t write them completely off yet, since Firewatch particularly insinuates that some details that seem like nothing or red herrings are in fact a key piece to the puzzle. While it certainly feels as though there’s a lot of padding to the films, without the full picture I can’t say if it’s worthwhile yet or not.

Overall I highly recommend this film series, particularly if you’re a fan of slow-burn found-footage and/or pseudo-documentary horror movies. It’s important to keep in mind that the series isn’t finished and to set your expectations accordingly. Marich does an incredible job of building tension and fear without loud jumpscares, and all three films are great to watch in the dark.