Dust Devil

source: Dust Devil

"Dust Devil" is an intriguing, moody little genre film, marked by very fine acting and the kind of atmosphere one can only get in practical locations. In this case, the setting is the Namibian desert, and that adds a lot to the story and presentation. The ambiance is practically overwhelming; writer / director Richard Stanley ("Hardware") nicely captures on film a world that not that many of us get to see. Aided by a truly haunting music score by Simon Boswell, he does an excellent job at keeping the viewer uneasy yet interested in everything that happens on screen. The surrealism is top notch, and Stanley keeps the special effects work at a minimum. Overall, this is actually a better film than "Hardware", if not entirely satisfying; the script is indeed somewhat muddled. The characters are worth watching, with likable protagonists and a creepy antagonist. The under-rated Robert John Burke stars as the title character, a spirit trapped in a human body who must kill in order to gain access to another realm. He makes the acquaintance of Wendy (Chelsea Field), who was unhappy in her marriage and has run away. Tracking Wendy is her concerned husband Mark (Rufus Swart), while The Dust Devil is pursued by haunted cop Ben Mukurob (the late, great South African actor Zakes Mokae, whom you may recognize as the villain from Wes Cravens' "The Serpent and the Rainbow". Adding even more intrigue to Stanley's tale is the fact that he based it on the case of a real- life serial killer in the area who was never caught, or even identified, leading to speculations about a possible supernatural origin. The director blends African mythology with the serial killer and otherworldly elements, not to mention a love for the Western genre, to great effect. The fact that Wendy and Ben are such sad people adds much pathos; if Ben can be considered a hero, then he's definitely a tragic one. It's easy for the viewer to feel sympathy towards this character. Field and Mokae beautifully perform their parts, and Burke is deliciously sinister. Adding solid support is another departed great character actor William Hootkins, who'd acted in "Hardware" and appears here as Bens' superior. Delivering the exposition in an entertaining way is John Matshikiza, who's magnetic as Joe. The heavily edited American release of "Dust Devil" really did it no favours; the subsequent reviews then motivated American distributor Miramax to put little effort into promoting it, which further prevented this film from reaching the audience that it deserved. If you are able, track down the multi disc Subversive DVD release (which also includes a few Stanley documentaries, the work print of the film, and the soundtrack on CD); you can then see this offbeat effort the way it was intended. Seven out of 10.

Dust Devil is set in Namibia where after a row with her husband Marco (Rufus Swart) a woman named Wendy (Chelsea Field) finds herself driving through, not going anywhere in particular she is just trying to escape her unhappy marriage. While driving along the desolate Namibian desert highways she comes across a hitchhiker (Robert John Burke) & decides to stop & give him a lift. It's a decision Wendy will regret as it turns out the hitchhiker is in fact an ancient evil spirit known as a Dust Devil who survives by killing people & Wendy is as good a victim as anyone else. The Dust Devil's murderous activities aren't going unnoticed however & local cop Ben Mukurob (Zakes Mokae) is on his trial but will he make it in time to save Wendy? This British South African co-production was written & directed by Richard Stanley & is an unusual supernatural horror thriller. I have to say at this point that Dust Devil annoyingly exists in several different versions including a studio cut which is the one I saw, a director's cut & a workprint cut so while I might praise the 90 odd minute studio version I saw that doesn't automatically mean you'll watch the same one. In fact you could end up watching a version which is significantly different in both tone & content than the one I will be basing my comment on which will make make my comment completely pointless & irrelevant to you. Anyway, the script takes itself very seriously unlike a lot of horror from the 90's & while that gives it a certain gravity it does try to be a little too straight faced at times. The story is actually very interesting & absorbing with good character's, dialogue & thoughtful situations but I didn't like some of it's more supernatural overtones like the way the hitchhiker just vanished from inside Wendy's car & who was that other hitchhiker by the side of the road during the same scene anyway? Some of the black magic witchcraft mumbo jumbo was a bit heavy handed somewhat off putting at times & came across as silly as well. It's not a fast moving film, even this the shorter 90 odd minute studio cut, but it entertains & it's engaging & quite thought provoking so overall I didn't mind that it was a little slow going at times. Director Stanley does a great job here & Dust Devil has to be one of the most visually stylish horror flicks of the 90's, the colours, the frame compositions, from aerial shots to long camera tracking shots this is a visually rich film. The bright orange & red Namibian desert adds a lot to the look of the film & the ghost town at the end is cool with most of the buildings half full of sand. I wouldn't say Dust Devil is scary but it's sort of eerie at times, since most of it takes place during the bright sunlight of daytime there isn't a whole lot of atmosphere. Gore wise things are sparse, there's an autopsy scene with various body parts, some severed fingers, a quick shot of a dead body with the upper skin on it's face pulled back & probably the best 'head blown off with a shotgun' scene ever. There's some sex & nudity as well if that sort of thing interests you. With a supposed budget of about £4,300,000 this actually had a lot of money spent on it, in fact if you were to convert that into dollars we're talking about a $8 million flick which is pretty big budget even now yet alone 15 years ago. Shot on location in Namibia this is well made with good special effects, production values, stylish cinematography & atmospheric music. The acting is good from all involved although some of the South African accents can take a bit of getting used to. Dust Devil is a good horror film, it's something with more intelligence & style than a lot of sequel driven franchise 90's horror, had this been a bit clearer on a few plot points & had a bit more gore in it then this could have been a classic, as it is it's still very good but not brilliant.

In this South African/UK co-production, a strange, ominous figure prowls the desolate Namibian desert and slaughters those he meets in an apparent ritual of black magic origin, although the truth may well be even more alarming. 'Dust Devil' is an extraordinary film from director, Richard Stanley that at once manages to be chilling, creepy, surreal, elegant and beautiful. In a visual sense alone, this film is purely a masterwork with such luscious imagery that can be strikingly picturesque yet in an instant become frightfully lurid and menacing. The desolate terrain of the Namibian desert is often presented with a vivid red tint, as if the landscape itself is drenched with the blood of the Dust Devil's victims. Such magnificent, awe-inspiring backgrounds seek and succeed in evoking the purest of overwhelming feelings of desertion and thus act as the ideal environment for such a daring and challenging film. The character of the Dust Devil (played by Robert John Burke) when presented against the mesmerising background has a strong, commanding presence and blends into the ocular grandeur as if part of the desert. One could also draw parallels between the visual delights on display here and that in the finest spaghetti westerns. To appreciate the visual splendor of 'Dust Devil' is to grasp just the very basics of what is a unique, intelligent horror film. Laced with symbolism and subtlety, Stanley has obviously put a great deal of thought and effort into creating a fantastically intricate world where what one sees can not necessarily be believed and every moment appears to provide more insight into what will come. If perhaps let down somewhat by a failed socio-political commentary, the superlative qualities of 'Dust Devil' are copious enough to ensure that little damage is done to the overall production. Accompanying the evocative imagery is a haunting soundtrack blending elements of tribal chanting with music similar to that which can be found in Italian western movies. Although the simplicity of the soundtrack is apparent, the utilisation is incredible and it contributes heavily to an induced sense of apprehension and dread. The seemingly sparse and controlled use of the sometimes menacing, sometimes graceful music gradually draws one into the film and allows one to experience the movie, rather than simply watch it. The production is then completed with sterling performances from the entire main cast. Robert John Burke is perfect in his role as the deceitful being, delivering his lines with quiet malevolence. Chelsea Field's takes the role of the lead female, fleeing her homeland and while her character does unfortunately remain somewhat underdeveloped, her performance is quite adept and good enough to allow an audience/character connection. South African born, Zakes Mokae (of 'The Serpent and the Rainbow' (1988)) also offers up a credible, sympathetic performance and truly excels during the scenes involving his character's own, spiritual journey. Perhaps on occasion a little too intellectual for its own good, 'Dust Devil' is a criminally overlooked film. Despite a number of grisly shots, the film almost solely relies on atmospheric build up to generate tension and steers clear from many of the ailments that modern horror movies are suffering from. Don't listen for ultra-loud bangs whenever a viewer is meant to be scared and don't look for two-dimensional teenagers – this is a pure, visual horror film that is purposely confusing and builds up slowly to a near-perfect ending. If you like challenging movies, then you can't go far wrong with this. My rating for 'Dust Devil' - 8½/10.

Being a big fan of HARDWARE, Richard Stanley's previous film, I really wanted to see DUST DEVIL for some time now. Having heard all the bad press about it did not diminish my interest in seeing it because HARDWARE got a lot of bad press and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well, after watching DUST DEVIL, I have to say that the bad press was on the mark. DUST DEVIL is a total misfire. I know there's a so-called uncut version out there but even an uncut version couldn't change the fact that the acting is terrible, the story is extremely weak and predictable and the whole concept is badly executed. Nothing feels right. While HARDWARE was pitch perfect with its techno noir Apocalyptic mood, everything in DUST DEVIL is totally off kilter. It's an embarrassing film, with every little detail wrong, from the awful soundtrack to the editing to the camera-work, giving the movie a super cheap, low budget feel that makes Roger Corman films look like BEN HUR. What's remarkable about how bad DUST DEVIL is is how quickly I realized it sucked. From the first frame, everything went wrong because of one thing: the narration. The narration is extremely intrusive, pointless and annoying. The voice-over keeps telling us what's going on. You know a movie is in trouble when it needs a voice-over to explain to the viewers the very predictable story and character motivations. Then we see the evil man taking pictures of his soon-to-be victims with a polaroid instant camera. I mean, come on! What a freaking lame and clichéd idea. There's absolutely no thought or imagination put in the evil being's ways. A polaroid? Everything went downhill after that. I mean, REALLY downhill. DUST DEVIL is terrible. I can't claim it's a botched masterpiece like many reviews here seem to say because most of it is lame to start with. Needless to say, as bad as DUST DEVIL is, I still think HARDWARE is amazing.

Only this: check the Final Cut version and you'll discover that most of the flaws for which this movie is criticized are gone. With it's 30 minutes of footage previously cut and no re-dubbing,the story makes sense (of course, because of all the references to art-movies such as Jodorowsky's EL TOPO, some things are still left only to symbolic images)and it doesn't seems to switch to one register to another. Also this version isn't regraded, so the (very fine)cinematography by Steve Chivers (who also did HARDWARE) can really give the taste of a mix between western (Sergio Leone) and horror (I'd say Mario Bava: in a dream sequence, Zakes Mokae even moves as he's on a dolly!). Unfortunately this version isn't the original 2 hours-long cut that Stanly delivered, so some things are missing: for example, in the first murder scene (where, btw, the director has a cameo reflected in a mirror), the Dust Devil was supposed to cut the back of his victim, now instead he just reveals the knife. And some optical effects weren't added since poor Stanley's pocket (he largely produced this new version by himself!) wasn't so large to afford them. But, bypassing this details, the entire movie it's showed to you as the masterpiece it is.

Awful would-be-thriller about a spirit who takes the form of a lonely hitchhiker in the desert (Robert John Burke) in order to claim victims that are basically walking through life dead already. The recently divorced Chelsea Field makes the wrong move of picking him up and immediately becomes the target of the odd demon. "Dust Devil" is another one of those silly horror films that is not too scary and it knows it so it tries to get by with clever twists and sexual situations. The few special effects are sophomoric and the film's tone never does make much sense. Witchcraft and crazed police detectives complete the strange mixture of nothingness. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).

I first saw this in the mid 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. The film is about a shape-shifting demon (Robert John Burke) who gains power through ritual murders n has to keep moving to work the rituals mainly targetting only those who have nothing to live for. Of course he does get to sleep with attractive females, including Chelsea Field. This film has a very creepy feel throughout n the desert roads along with the house where the first murder takes place has a very isolated n eerie feel. The director did a fantastic job. This film has awesome photography of the desert.

I saw this movie on a shelf and had a look at its cover. Story seemed pretty interesting and I went home with this movie. What a mistake to make! This movie is absolute waste,a full-time duck. Opening is nice, narrator explains the story about "Dust Devil" hitchiking across the Namib Desert in South Africa. Then everything went wrong. It seems that the director couldn't decide who's the main character,so most of the movie is focused on Chelsea Field solving her domestic problems,with occasional pop-ups from Robert John Burke and Zakes Mokae. There is absolutely no pace,no rhythm in this film,it looks like this was made for those with insomnia problem. Acting is cheesy,most of the actors look like a vagrants who were accidentally involved in this charade. I'm a huge horror fan but this is a disgrace for the genre.

Dust Devil is an interesting, atmospheric film. The storyline is not so much in the for front as the visuals and direction. The movie stars Robert John Burke (Thinner) who plays the part of the Dust Devil, Zakes Mokae (The Serpant and The Rainbow) who plays the part of an officer tracking the Devil, and Chelsea Field who is the subject matter of the movie. The Dust Devil is a magical creature who has the ability to change his appearance and has other powers. He seems to feed off lonely woman on the verge of suicide. He sleeps with them and then murders them. Afterwards, he takes their fingers. Chelsea plays the part of Wendy who has just left her husband and is incredibly depressed. On an isolated highway in the desert, she picks up a hitch hiker whom is the Dust Devil. She ends up falling for him and does not see the imminent danger in her future. Zakes Mokae is the officer tracking the devil. He does not believe in the extraordinary but has bad dreams given to him from the dust devil. This is such a bizarre film in many ways like Richard Stanley's "Hardware" with amazing visuals, a captivating musical score, and one Hell of an ending. I would have to say that this movie is not for everyone as most people wouldn't get the direction Stanley was going with this film. 8/10