Desert road trips that go very wrong, when road movies turn into nightmares. Titles like The Hitcher (1986), Joy Ride (2001), or Jeepers Creepers (2001) have found their glory riding those paths. And if you also add the missing daughter of a young daughter the combination makes the tension escalate to the top.
In The Darkness of the Road (2021), a single mother and her young daughter are driving on a desolate road in a moonless desert. After meeting a young female hitchhiker at a gas station, the mother realizes her daughter is missing. As they search for her, a merciless force begins to torment the two women, unraveling a world of terror they must survive if they are to discover the terrifying truth behind the daughter’s disappearance.
This is the new movie from writer and director Eduardo Rodriguez, who after his nomination for the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 for his thesis short film Daughter (2002) called the attention of Robert Rodriguez who endorsed his debut feature horror film Curandero (2005). Then Stash House (2012), El Gringo (2012), Fright Night 2 (2013), and You’re Not Alone (2020) came to certify that the filmmaker can be comfortable both in the horror and thriller genres.
The main role in The Darkness of the Road (2021) is played by Najarra Townsend, an actress who has gained notoriety in the underground circuits thanks to her performance in the shocking horror film Contracted (2013) and its sequel Contracted: Phase II (2015) and has also starred in Wolf Mother (2016), Abducted (2018), and Dementia: Part II (2018). Leah Lauren, Johnny Whitworth, Paris Dylan, and Gwyneth Glover complete the main cast.
The Darkness of the Road (2021) is scheduled for a DVD and digital release on December 14, 2021, by Uncork’d Entertainment. Watch here its official trailer.
