Review: ‘Horror in the High Desert 4: Majesty’ is the best one yet
Dutch Marich delivers another strong link in the ongoing saga.
Writer/director Dutch Marich remains at the top of his game. Horror in the High Desert 4: Majesty illustrates that the cursed series is not running out of steam anytime soon. Featuring two returning characters, including Gal Roberts (Suziey Block), the fourth installment ratchets up the tension, mood, and scares. There’s something to be said about a filmmaker who knows how to get under your skin during the talking head interviews as much as the terror-fueled night scenes. Music and camera work conspire to create a horrifying extension that just might be the best yet.
The story follows Dolly Broadbent (Laurie Felix Bass) and her family on Majesty Ranch, located out in the High Desert. When a mysterious box, long thought gone forever, is discovered in the home’s root cellar, the case about Dolly’s father and what he saw out there breaks wide open. Gal and Bill Salerno (David Morales) serve as the narrative lynchpins, driving the story forward as they descend further into the disturbing tale. The box contains typed letters with accompanying videotapes detailing a timeline of events that lead to some pretty nasty discoveries.
The team works through the box’s contents, putting the various pieces together like a giant jigsaw puzzle, and each revelation is as terrifying as the last. For theatrical effect, John Davis Walker voices Dolly’s father Beau Hayden to read the letters, and his raspy timbre delivers the punch needed for the weight of the story. The vintage video footage draws you into the dark underworld contained in the desert and the “people” living there in the shadows. Some are afraid of the light; others are not. As Beau steps closer, he captures some of the best haunting imagery the series has ever collected.
With meager resources, the filmmaker demonstrates a mastery of storytelling that blows big-budget creators out of the water. His ability to connect the dots to the other installments, all the way back to Gary Hinge, makes for a satisfying viewing experience. In weaving in an immensely eerie score, Marich keeps the gloom puncturing under the fingernails. Of course, it would all be for nothing if he didn’t expose frightening sequences in the third act that rival any featured before. But he never overdoes it, only ever showing glimpses or silhouettes that rattle you to the core.
It’s impressive that Dutch Marich has been able to keep the series going strong for four installments. Where many other writers and directors would have fumbled one or two entries, Marich only digs his heels in deeper. He expands the lore without sacrificing the mystique surrounding the High Desert and always delivers the goods. Horror in the High Desert 4: Majesty arrives as Marich’s strongest film, proving he’s just getting better and better.
Horror in the High Desert 4: Majesty is out now on Prime and Apple.
