“Desierto” is a horror/action movie starring my favorite Mexican actor, Gael Garcia Bernal. It also features Jeffrey Dean Morgan as antagonist/bad guy/monster. Garcia Bernal plays a man trying to get back to his son who is living in California. Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays a man embittered by conservative rhetoric on immigration who sees himself as the person protecting the US-Mexico border.

The movie features a small group of people crossing the border. The coyotes (slang name given to human traffickers) who are paid to transport these people have a problem with the vehicle. They force their people to walk through the desert (i.e. Desierto) and that is when the real horror begins.

The movie focuses on the action of Morgan hunting migrants. The anxiety of whether or not Garcia Bernal will die carries the movie quite well. Despite the lack of dialogue, the movie is quite good and extremely horrifying. The scariest part of the story is the mind of Morgan. The rhetoric that demonizes immigrants serves to infect the minds of people who listen to it. Overall, I recommend the movie.

Do you like horror movies featuring real life monsters (i.e. murderers) or invented monsters?