Dive into the chilling depths of 'The Desert', a 2013 Spanish horror film that will grip you from start to finish. A relentless zombie onslaught sets the stage for a harrowing survival story, accompanied by a poignant exploration of the human spirit. With a taut runtime of 98 minutes, this DVD is a must-have for fans of the genre, offering a unique blend of horror and drama in a standard edition format.

Axel, Jonathan and Ana live together in a fortified house, a safe haven bunker after a global catastrophe. Outside is a threatening apocalyptic landscape – inside was once a perfect three-way bond of supportive friendship. Now that has been torn apart by Ana forming a close relationship with Jonathan leaving frustrated Axel alone, tattooing his body with flies. However everything changes when Axel and Jonathan go out on an expedition in search of provisions and return home with a zombie that they call Pythagoras

REAR COVER

Jonathan and Axel have survived the zombie apocalypse in a house they've fortified into a bunker. Jonathan and Ana are lovers, which leaves Axel stewing in his own unrequited juices. He keeps busy by tattooing flies on his body, Ana records video of herself talking about her past and the present, and Jonathan dares Axel into suicidal acts that may get them all killed.

Retürning from a scavenging expedition, Axel and Jonathan bring home a muzzled zombie, dubbed Pythagoras, who becomes in turn, a punching bag, an art piece, and a catalyst forta the mental and emotional breakdown of the lang bunker's once tight-knit population.

Simultaneously touching and disturbing, he DESERT takes everything we know about the zombie genre and throws it out of the window, presenting instead a thought-provoking character study on the frailty of imposed intimacy.

MOVIE BREAKDOWN

Zombies films are ten-a-penny these days, with a new film seemingly released each and every week, so it takes something quite special to truly stand out from the crowd. The Desert is one such movie.

Taking everything we know about the genre and throwing it out of the window, The Desert is, for the most part, a slow burning character study of just what it is like to be survivors in a zombie apocalypse. The highs and lows, the wants and needs and even the mundane. Added to the mix is a love-triangle between our three protagonists: Axel, Jonathan and Ana. Beginning as a “family” of survivors, over the years Jonathan and Ana have paired off leaving Axel out in the cold, left to lust over Ana via the vlogs they tape as a record of their life in the apocalypse.

Despite the (refreshing) lack of focus on the zombies at their door, the film still manages to build tension through Axel, Jonathan and Ana’s relationship and what a twisted relationship it is. Whilst Jonathan “dates” Ana, he knows Axel lusts after her and secretly shares her body with him – stripping Ana naked whilst she sleeps to let Alex see what he’s missing. They even go as far as to make an unspoken pact – discussing which part of Ana they each like to perv on, then helping each other do so. And things get decidedly more twisted when Jonathan and Axel head off on a scavenger mission and bring back a zombie to their camp. Axel uses him as a punching bag whilst Ana gives him a name, treating him as a bizarre form of pet. As the tension between the Ana and Axel builds so does their anger – and they take it out on their now chained-up zombie captive. Things then spiral further out of control as Ana discovers Axel has been watching her vlogs behind her back and she begins taunting him, observing his every move, which leads the pair to begin a weird almost-symbiotic “relationship” via their video recordings….

Less zombie film and more familial horror, The Desert is a superb example of what filmmakers can do within the confines of the horror genre. Writer/director Christoph Behl ignores all the tropes and cliches of the zombie movie and crafts a film with makes the horror much more human. This is about what humans do to each other – the games we play, the way we treat each other – not about how we cope with an enemy at the door. And in this case the enemy, it seems, is ourselves, as base instincts of survival, selfishness and lust take over, with no thought on the impact they have on others – and on ourselves.

Showing just why the horror genre is such a powerful storytelling medium, The Desert is one of the best “zombie” movies I’ve seen in a very, very, long time.

REVIEWS

THE DESERT is strikingly original in the zombie genre…I was quietly blown away by the talent on display and the resonant themes of the movie.” – Ain’t it Cool News

“The Desert is beautiful, touching, moving, gripping and simply outstanding. You’ll fall in love with these characters and its simple set-up will keep you engaged right up until the end and for the next few weeks. The term “masterpiece” is bounded around a lot as a form of hyperbole, but The Desert is one of those films where the word is justified in its use. The Desert is a masterpiece.” – FlickeringMyth.com

DETAILED PLOT

A failed love triangle in a post-apocalyptic world.

Axel, Jonathan and Ana live together in a house that seems like a bunker in a post-catastrophic world. Outside is a threatening landscape, seen only as a background from the terrace of their house. Once they were a perfect love triangle, with strong bonds of friendship, but today nothing is left of it. Ana is with Jonathan and Axel is alone, bit by bit tattooing his body with flies. Their old relationship cannot be recovered, the wounds run too deep. To escape from this hell, Ana has invented “the therapy room”, a small room where they record their confessions on a video camera. Each one of them speaks to an imagined other and records it, though really Jonathan just sits alone in the room in silence to please Ana. Axel, on the other hand, only goes there to open a secret box that contains the tapes recorded by Ana.

But everything changes when Axel and Jonathan go out on an expedition in search of provisions and return to the house with a zombie that they call Pythagoras. The creature, with an expressionless face, stares out at nothing, at a fixed point in space, like a lobotomized patient. Pythagoras’ presence disturbs the others who begin to imagine an invisible presence in the room, exactly at the point where his gaze seems fixed. Perhaps that is why –or maybe it is because they need a cathartic element– they begin to beat him often, while he feels nothing of the torture, and the vicious circle of catharsis and guilt closes in more and more. Meanwhile Axel moves dangerously close to Ana, pushed on by Jonathan, as Ana gives into Axel’s desire in a desperate attempt to stop the free fall of their house