Desert Fiends Blu Ray Review (Gravitas Ventures)

Desert Fiends is a 2024 horror comedy co-written, produced, and directed by Shawn C. Phillips (Desert Fiends 2, Amityville Karen, Amityville Bigfoot, Amityville Shark House, and Woods Witch). It was co-written by Ethan Phillips (Desert Fiends 2, Skate to Hell, and Pay to Die). They are already shooting a sequel for this. The estimated budget was $250,000. Six friends on their way to an exclusive concert after winning tickets break down in the middle of nowhere. They unfortunately encounter a deranged family lead by the sadistic Papa (played by: Brett Wagner from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Desert Fiends 2, Fool’s Paradise, The Crazies, Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2, Machine Gun Preacher, and The Happytime Murders) that lurk in the desert waiting to kill anyone that they come across in various brutal ways. Luckily for these cannibalistic mutated hillbillies, they have plenty of unlucky guests ready to be murdered all in the same place!!!! Desert Fiends is kinda like if The Hills Have Eyes or Wrong Turn took place at a concert with the dark humor turned all the way up. You can see the influence of all of the past backwoods, cannibalistic, and silly hillbilly horror over the years. The script had some hilarious moments but I do feel it tried a little too hard when it came to the comedy for the most part. If you are into crude and immature humor then you will probably enjoy that aspect of Desert Fiends. Shawn C. Phillips uses his power as an influencer to put together a quality team behind this low budget production and he delivers his best effort as a director so far here. Desert Fiends never takes itself seriously and it just has fun with it’s chaotic situations. Brett Wagner steals the show in Desert Fiends as the hilarious inbred leader Papa. He is full of silly and sometimes really corny one liners that remind you of one of those classic 80’s villains. Scout Taylor-Compton (Halloween franchise) is one of the few characters that’s actually a little serious in this wacky horror feature. She is really solid as Meg, she’s known to boost events with her social media influence. Tom Arnold (True Lies) plays the shady boss with ease that sends his employees to their fatal demise trying to cover up his mistakes. One of the biggest things that grabbed my attention for Desert Fiends when it showed up for coverage was all of it’s talent that shows up in this independent slasher. The awesome supporting cast includes Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), Michael Paré (Streets of Fire), Bai Ling (The Crow), Robert LaSardo (Nip/Tuck), William McNamara (Opera), Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise), Eileen Dietz (The Exorcist), Spencer Breslin (The Cat in the Hat), Lorelei Linklater (Boyhood), Nicole Butler (Woods Witch), Frederick George Stuhrberg (Boston Legal), Ashleeann Cittell (Babylon), Joshua R. Outzen (Cobra Kai), Jacqueline Barone (Wander Women), Addison Grace Randolph (Live Laugh Die), Jeff Webb (Amityville Turkey Day), Juan M Gonzalez (Saltwater), Zachary Vazquez (The Walking Dead), Sonia Dunkinson (Desert Fiends 2), Jeff Richards (Saturday Night Live), William ‘Bill’ Connor (Death Count), Erica Dyer (The Town Without Halloween), Warren Dean Fulton (Bathtub Shark Attack), and so many others. If this was made about 20 years ago with all the familiar actors involved in this project, it would have been a major release with a huge push for the horror community. I will say that most of the performances in Desert Fiends were way over the top but it works for something like this. The real stars of Desert Fiends were the special fx team that includes Eric Yoder (The Invisible Raptor), Jake Porath (Strange Darling), and Monique Paredes (Dante’s Hotel). They completely elevated this slasher in every possible way. It had very creative and gruesome kills with plenty of gore that makes this stand out a little more. Desert Fiends has potential to be a solid horror franchise, they are currently filming the sequel for it. This was much better than expected, it’s a blast and it delivers on it’s body count. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Gravitas Ventures! This 1080p (2.35:1) unrated transfer looks really good especially considering it’s lower budget. The locations and special fx really shine here when it comes to the visuals. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on the disc. The audio has it’s moments especially during all the chaos and music stuff. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the killing is elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. There’s no extras on this home video release. It’s a professionally made on demand BD-R. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!!