Following a whirlwind romance, Katie follows Jay to Los Angeles to spend a few more days with him. After he has to leave for work, she is left alone in his apartment where odd things are happening at an accelerating rate.
Written by Craig Walendziak and Matthew McCarty and directed by David Moscow, Desolation takes a simple premise of a girl falling for a boy and following him where he wants to go and twists it in a new(ish) way as it goes the horror route, but not necessarily the expected horror route. The film takes its lead and puts her through the mental wringer and the reason why this is done as it is only gets fully revealed at the end. That being as it is, some of the film has plenty of clues as to where it is going and one may want to try and guess at it, but chances are they will not fully guess the scope of the entire thing. The film has some decent mystery and creates good tension here and there with good escalation until the resolution. It’s an entertaining mystery where not all the questions are answered but the explanation makes sense.
The cast of Desolation is led by Dominik García-Lorido as Katie, the young woman who follows the Hollywood hunk when he asks her to go with him. She plays this part well and shows a good grasp of her craft as the world around Katie starts to crumble. She plays someone may be a victim or may just be crazy rather well and gives the film its believability. Her being the central character, her performance could make or break the film and thankfully she made the film work. Her work here is solid and works as her feeling of being lost and losing her mind comes through nicely. Playing a key role in the film is Raymond J. Barry as Father Bill. His part serves a very singular purpose throughout the film but this purpose is not very clear until well into the story. His acting sells this quite well and he leaves a strong impression.
Also leaving an impression is the film’s cinematography, by Darin Moran, which is beautiful and carefully done. The film’s images are framed thoughtfully, creating images that are sometimes dizzying and perfect for setting the tone the story needs. These images are well done and show that Moran understands how to work within the frame of a film and how to make the most of simple images. His work helps the film with its atmosphere but also with how it creates a feeling with the viewer. Simply put, the images in this film may very well be the strongest part of it.
Desolation is a decent mystery film that brings a few new items to the table of its own sub-genre. The acting is good all-around with García-Lorido and Barry doing the best work of the bunch. What really stands out here is the cinematography. The images created here are solid and show mastery of the art. The film looks great, has some strong and tense moments while creating a story that messes a bit with the mind of the viewer.99