High Desert Kill (1989 film)

Promotional image and scenes from High Desert Kill (1989 film)...

High Desert Kill (1989), AKA Desert Alien, Death in the Desert

Summary

"In the badlands of New Mexico, it waits for them..." Three friends take a hunting trip in the eerie landscape of the New Mexico desert mountains, where they meet a mountaineer who has lost his horses, and a couple of strangely-acting "hippie girls" who soon disappear, leading to a series of increasingly strange events suggesting the influence of something unearthly among them....

Details

• Release Date: 1989
• Country/Language: US, English
• Genres/Technical: Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, made-for-TV
• Setting: 1980s New Mexico Weird West
• Runtime: 1 hr 29 min
• Starring: Chuck Connors, Marc Singer, Anthony Geary, Micah Grant
• Director: Harry Falk
• Writer: Mike Marvin and Darnell Fry (story), T.S. Cook (teleplay)
• Producer/Production Co: Lehigh Entertainment, MCA Television Entertainment (MTE), MCA Television
• View Trailer: (link)
• IMDB Page: (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: PG-13 (mild made-for-1980s-TV Violence and Adult Content)

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• Ss___ (One and a Half Tentacles: Barely Lovecraftian; has almost no direct connection to Lovecraft's work)

The characters find themselves in a strange and mysterious "Eldritch Location" where things just aren't quite right, at the mercy of psychological experiments conducted by a shape-shifting Tentacle Monster, leading up to a showdown in some creepy Pueblo Indian ruins....

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• Review at TV Week (3/5 stars) (Link) - "...High Desert Kill is a taut, no-frills shocker that is potent enough to enable the audience to suspend its disbelief."
• Review by Ken Begg at Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension (Link) - "...the film manages to go in unexpected directions frequently. That’s to the film’s credit, as is the fact that the story remains intriguing and never seems to be spinning it’s wheels. ... It’s cheap, but thankfully it’s effective!"
• Review by Ty Burr at Entertainment Weekly (C+) (Link) - The plot suggests Deliverance and Predator poured into a blender, but as long as it keeps you wondering what on earth is going on, it’s perversely intriguing."
• Review by Jeremy Jeffers at ScreamGeeks (5.9/10) (Link) - "As a horror film High Desert Kill is actually fairly functional. The atmosphere is really well done and each scene does a wonderful job of pushing the desolate setting. You really feel as though these characters are shut off from society and on their own against the elements. There's an oppressive ambience that oozes through every scene. ... Let it be said that I knew I was in for a crazy ride, and I was not disappointed."
• Review by Amanda Reyes at Made for TV Mayhem (Link) - "Just like the characters in High Desert Kill, I was a witness… I was there… yet, I still don’t believe what I saw… I wonder if I will even be able to recount the story properly. ... High Desert Kill is absolutely one of the weirdest films I have ever seen. It’s got some mind-boggling moments ... , but it’s also fascinating and, at some points, quite effective."
• Video review by Ramboraph4life (Link) - "The film kind of plays off as a Twilight Zone episode, like a feature length Twilight Zone episode..."
• Plot summary in the book "Cyborgs, Santa Claus and Satan: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Made for Television" by Fraser A. Sherman (Link) - "High Desert features some interesting ideas in a totally dull film."
• Y.Whateley - "A fun throw-back to some of those great old 1950s alien-among-us films, especially It Came from Outer Space (1953 film); it's a fairly understated and low-key low-budget movie that kept my interest and never really wore out its welcome; the unearthly desert landscape full of bizarre rock formations and weird native ruins deserves some special mention alongside some competent, if not electrifying, performances by Chuck Connors and the rest of the cast. I couldn't rate it much higher than 2.5/5 'stars', but it's really not a bad little movie, and I'd certainly watch it again."

Synopsis (SPOILERS)

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)
An old cowboy and hunters in New Mexico are tricked and tested by a shape-shifting alien in human form.

Notes

Associated Mythos Elements

• TO DO
• Tentacle Monster