'Desert Road' Review: A Sci-Fi Banger That Would Make Stephen King Proud

• Desert Road is a compelling thriller that transitions from mundane to mystical threats on a deserted California highway.
• Star Kristine Froseth shines as she embodies a strong and sympathetic heroine in a twisty, genre-hopping story.
• The film is a focused and effective 90-minute genre flick with clever storytelling and suspense, despite some narrative shortcuts.

Desert Road takes its title from its single, solitary setting: a stretch of dusty highway running through the middle of nowhere California. There are a couple of points of interest — a small gas station that's almost certainly the last pit stop for a hundred miles and a fenced-off factory where laborers toil away deep inside making god knows what — but otherwise it's nothing but barren landscapes on either side of the road, with sand dunes stretching as far as the eye can see. For most people, it's just the empty void you drive through to get from one place to another.