Dark Country

Newlyweds Dick and Gina set out for their desert honeymoon, driving through the night to beat the heat. A roadside stranger warns them to avoid getting lost and to stick to the Interstate, casting a wary tone over the journey.

They realize they’re heading the wrong way and move off the highway onto a secluded desert road. Dick switches off the headlights to drive by starlight, while Gina experiences a private intimate moment in the isolation.

Dick turns the car back on and swerves to avoid a figure in the road. They discover a man severely injured in a car crash and, unable to get a signal, decide to drive him toward a hospital despite the remote route.

During the drive, the injured man awakens and becomes increasingly erratic, asking for a cigarette and muttering threats. He tries to strangle Dick, sparking a violent struggle that spills out of the car.

Dick defeats the man with a rock and both spouses decide to dispose of the body. They bury him in a shallow grave, and Gina fills the hole while Dick discovers a revolver in her handbag, hinting at danger in their relationship.

The couple arrives at a rest area with several parked cars and clean themselves up while arguing. Dick discovers his watch is missing from the burial, and Gina waits with a gun, refusing to go back.

Dick returns to the burial site only to find the grave empty and hear gunshots as Gina vanishes. He notices a nearby grave and sees that the other cars around the area are rusted and abandoned.

In a panic he flees and nearly collides with a deputy sheriff. He ends up in the back of a patrol car as police drive him to a crime scene where authorities are excavating murder victims from a mass grave.

The deputy explains this is the rest area from 30 years ago, and Dick realizes this is the spot where he buried the stranger. Gina’s body is exhumed, and the deputy finds Dick’s watch, linking past and present.

Dick kicks his way out of the patrol car and escapes, joining a chase across the desert with the pursuing police. He drives off into the night, trying to outrun his pursuers.

With the lights off, he loses the pursuing squad and encounters a swarm of insects that cause him to lose control. The car rolls, he is thrown clear, and nearly gets hit by another oncoming vehicle.

Some time later, Dick wakes up in the back of his own car, listening to a fight between him and Gina and realizes he was the mysterious stranger he fought and killed earlier, completing the night’s eerie loop.