User reviews

"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.

After watching this film, I've visited my profile to rate it, and to my surprise, I've found out that I had already seen it, in 2009. Though during the second watch, not a single frame is felt familiar, I thought I was watching it first time; this should tell a thing or two about how forgettable it is.

I won't change my rating no matter how much I enjoyed beautiful and rich imagery. Because the dubbing is horrendous and the whole story does not hang together, even the dream sequences makes more sense.

"Dust Devil is one of the only 90's horror classics!" "The special edition DVD from Subversive Cinema is finally a release worthy of this film". "If you haven't seen Dust Devil yet, you're in for a brilliant and refreshing horror surprise". Okay, these are some of the ultimately praising comments I encountered on "Dust Devil" and apparently a lot of people are astonished if you claim you're a horror fanatic and yet haven't seen this film. Now, after borrowing the deluxe DVD-edition from a friend and finally having seen the film, all I can say is … Is that it?!? This is the supposedly brilliant and original 90's classic that I desperately had to watch in order to keep calling myself a horror buff? I mean, it's a respectable and ambitious film and definitely benefices from a handful of unique elements, but I honestly expected more in terms of plot originality and production values. "Dust Devil" boosts an incredibly rudimentary and hugely derivative plot, but writer/director Richard Stanley ("Hardware") effectively camouflages this through sensationally breath-taking filming locations, ultimately ominous sound effects & music and some extremely blatant gore effects. Filmed in one of the most beautiful regions of the world – the South African/Namibian deserts, "Dust Devil" introduces a drifting stranger who gets picked up by a beautiful woman and brought back to an isolated guest house for a night of passionate sex. However, the drifter is an ancient demoniacal African shape-shifter feeding on the despair of depressed people and thus viciously butchers the woman and sets her house on fire before hitching onwards. Next victim is the insecure South African housewife Wendy Robinson, who finally dared to leave her dominant husband and now journeys through the desert on her way to the sea. Meanwhile, the fatigue police officer Ben Mukurob hasn't got the slightest trace to follow and enlists the help of a spiritual cinema projector to learn more about the unusual serial killer. Basically, "Dust Devil" is simply a standard horror story about a traveling serial killer and all the supernatural gibberish and typically African talk about magic are totally irrelevant. The film is amazingly atmospheric and often downright scary, but only thanks to the godforsaken and desolate locations and nightmarish music, because all the rest is disappointingly amateurish. The narration, for example, is completely uninformative and quite annoying. Stanley's subtly processed lectures on South African politics feel somewhat obtrusive whereas the actually relevant dialogs are extremely weak. Worst of all, however, are the irredeemably awful acting performances from the ensemble cast. I personally never liked Robert John Burke but definitely expected a better and more vivid job from Chelsea Field.

Very dark, gory, mystical film with strong, haunting atmosphere, much in the spirit of Stanley's work for occultist rock band Fields of the Nephilim. A demonic entity hitchhikes across the desert taking possession of bodies with which to commit ritualistic murders - the crime scenes, their walls minutely detailed with glyphs and sigils painted in the victims' blood, are stunningly effective. Skeptical detective finally enlists the help of an old shaman who knows the creature's vulnerabilities and the killer is stopped - or is it? --Really remarkable; anyone who enjoyed Stanley's earlier "Hardware" should make the effort to find it.

Richard Stanley's directorial debut Hardware was a stylish piece of plagiarism that failed to do the source material justice (Stanley ripped off the story from a 'Future Shock' in UK comic 2000AD); Dust Devil, his second feature, is also extremely stylish, and might even have been derived from an original concept, but it also proves disappointing overall, the muddled script relying on trite tribal mysticism to paper over the cracks, and the acting suffering from strong African accents (it's hard to tell if they're lousy actors or if the dialect just gives this impression).

In Namibia, young women driving alone on deserted highways are apparently all too happy to pick up hitch-hikers: the film's 'dust devil', a shape-shifting demon (Robert John Burke) that takes human form to claim the souls of desperate people, is picked up by a woman, who takes him back to her place for sex. He snaps her neck, does unspeakable things to her corpse, and decorates the house with her blood, before torching the place. Policeman Ben Mukurob (Zakes Mokae) tries to track down the killer, who has left a trail of bodies in his wake, but will he be able to destroy the demon before it takes the life of Wendy Robinson (Chelsea Field), the latest idiot to give a lift to the hitch-hiker in the middle of nowhere.

The film's magical mumbo-jumbo, portentous voice-over, and arthouse sensibilities turn what could have been an entertaining supernatural chiller into something of a pretentious slog, with only the stunning cinematography and the occasional spot of gore alleviating the boredom: the desolate sun-baked landscape of Namibia is quite breath-taking - far more remarkable than any of the human performers - and the violent imagery, which includes a splendid shotgun blast to the head in the final act, is impressively nasty when it occurs.

Available in various edits due to a troubled history with producers and distributors, Dust Devil is probably best appreciated with the Final Cut, in which Stanley had the final say; it's almost two hours long, but is probably the most coherent version of a film that is fairly muddled at the best of times.

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.

Or was it gone with the dust? Nah, probably not. But there is quite some dust here to ... dust off. The making of this and generally the story behind the making of this is more fascinating than the movie itself. Which isn't bad at all whatsoever. A really interesting thriller slash horror slash paranormal movie. The director does believe in certain things and to fully appreciate the movie you should at least be open to the while thing. Even if just for entertainemnt and the film purposes! Don't be close minded, don't rip the fun out, before you even watch it.

Having said that, really nice cast overall and good performances. I watched the final cut and the even longer cut, that had many scenes included in badly repaired or restoreds scenes. And if you try to listen to the audio commentary ... daymn. One would think that with technology nowadays, they could record it so you can clearly hear a person - and not have background noise that is seriously annoying.

All that aside, it is a fine movie, with an interesting story to boast. Maybe if the producers would have trusted the director more, there could have been an even better picture overall. Maybe he wasn't there yet anyway - whatever the case Richard Stanley is quite the individual and his movies are unique in many ways

Part Produced by the Weinstein brothers, who brought us Pulp Fiction etc, and distributed by their company Miramax, this film was released in the U.S under the name 'Demonica'. This cut of the movie was one that the director and writer Richard Stanley was very unhappy with. When the company responsible for distributing the movie in England went into administration 'Demonica' became the only cut of this film. That was until Richard Stanley financed a re-cut eventually getting his cut released in selected cinemas in Britain.

The story revolves around the dust devil, a man dressed in cowboy attire who roams the earth killing 'innocent' people in order that eventually he may be able to return to 'the other side'. Now in Namibia he is hitch hiking around killing freely those who are unfortunate enough to give him a ride

Although providing nice photography and some stark images the film looks very dated and is definitely not the masterpiece others have claimed it to be. It is quite entertaining at times but overall does not keep you interested for long. It is a horror, that does'nt scare and at times is quite funny and silly.

If there ever was a film which deserved to be called HAUNTING - it's this one. Excellent music, wonderful dream-like atmosphere, masochistically-grim mood verging on nihilism, mystical overtones, a sympathetic supernatural yet human 'villain'... it's just wonderful. Disturbing gore, genuinely creepy scenes, the setting unlike anything you've ever seen before- this is one of the unsung, unknown masterpieces of the '90-ies (thinking/feeling man's)horror film at its best.

This is a review of the final cut.

Richard's Stanley's follow up to Hardware (his feature debut) is a feast of sights and sounds which bridge the gap between horror and art film. A truly eccentric and imaginative film. Hardware itself was fairly impressive visually, but here, Stanley offers us a story, which feels less brain dead. This one is deeper and more subtle and also orchestrated to be almost hypnotic. Pretty good for an extreme B-movie, which is too degrading a classification for something like this. It'll offer a treat for anyone who is curious.

The curtain rises on a dusty golden world of desert. A voice of god narration tells us we are in Africa. there is an ancient evil wandering the Namib desert, in human form. He preys on souls, most of whom he hitches a ride from on the desert highway. Wendy has recently left her husband in South Africa, she hits the road with nothing but the clothes on her back. (No points for guessing who she runs into on her trip.)

I may offer a few points for guessing what happens to her, but there are times in fact when the plot is not all that predictable. Dust Devil, is a fairly original story even though there are a couple of road movie clichés. It would be wrong and too bias to look at Dust Devil as a road movie, it plays out like one for a while, but it's impossible to label it as one genre. It's part road movie, part horror, part fantasy, and part surrealism. An odd mix, yes but it all comes together effectively.

the film is not without fault though. There is a voice of god narration from one of the film's less important characters. It is badly scripted and feels unnecessary. The ending though, not terrible is anti-climactic. Perhaps it's different in another cut of the film, but I doubt it.

There is much more worth being said about Dirt Devil, but I don't want to over sell it. If you feel sick of the regurgitated mass of b-movie horror material, Here is a change of pace, a film that is worth checking out. (If you can find it that is). It's a rare one.

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.

'Dust Devil' is a visually striking, atmospheric supernatural mood piece that deserves a larger audience. Directed by Richard Stanley, best known to most for the so-so cyberpunk action movie 'Hardware', this is a much more ambitious and complex movie. Unfortunately it isn't entirely successful, and frequently loses focus and gets muddled and confusing. Even so it has some fascinating sequences and is well worth renting. The mysterious title character is played by the underrated Robert John Burke, and actor who has had an uneven career from Hal Hartley gems like 'Simple Men' to horror schlock like 'Thinner', and even a brief stint as Peter Weller's replacement in the Robocop series. Burke is supported by the charismatic African character actor Zakes Mokae ('The Serpent and the Rainbow'), and b-grade regular Chelsea Field ('Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'). 'Dust Devil' is a difficult movie to categorize but will appeal to fans of offbeat and strange films.

This film starts with a haunting introduction, with a equally haunting film score, which leads into a sadistic murder before the "devil" moves on to trap more victims. The sad, lonely and displaced are all vulnerable and ultimately selected as victims. Magical witchcraft plays a role in trapping the devil, who will ultimately continue his shape shifting, taking on the guise of a new host to move on along the never ending path of death. This film is imaginative, well scripted, violent yet compelling. It is haunting visually, and musically. It leaves room for expanding the characterisations which it does well. It would have benefited from being half an hour longer, yet stands out as a classic cult drama of great intelligence.

I hated Richard Stanley's "Hardware", an overlong, overwrought sci-fi horror flick based on a 2-page comic cut from "2000AD". However, I had to admit that it WAS visually stylish and watched "Dust Devil" after it was recommended to me by a friend. I watched it and was duly converted into a Stanley fan. Why has this man made so few films?

In "Dust Devil", Stanley's screen writing skill and directorial flair combine perfectly and the result is an above-average horror movie. The African locations provide a perfect backdrop to a tale that is as grisly as it is poignant. The director's cut is a must-see for horror fans and Simon Boswell's pounding soundtrack is wonderfully evocative. Highly recommended.

After a blazing argument with her husband and deciding enough is enough, Wendy Robinson takes off into the African sun. Picking up a hitch-hiker, she finds herself strangely drawn to him, unaware that he is a travelling serial killer. When police detective Ben Mukurob arrives on the scene it becomes apparent that her companion is actually something far worse than a merely a killer, he is a shape shifting demon who steals the souls of his victims.

Richard Stanley's "Dust Devil" has a well documented troubled history. Briefly, Stanley's original cut of 120 minutes was trimmed to 110 and US distributor Miramax held the rights to re-edit an American release if they so wished. Stanley still hoped his longer cut would thrive in Europe, however, Palace Pictures in Britain had a 95 minute cut of the film that was test screened just the once before Palace Pictures went bankrupt. Thus this meant the post-production of a "European" version was shut down and Stanley lost control of the film. With Miramax chopping away in the states it now meant that "Dust Devil" was floating around in cuts that ranged from 110 minutes to a staggeringly pointless 68 minutes. In 1993 Stanley managed to buy back the print and the cut material from Miramax, and using his own money, set about restoring the film to something like his original vision. The result is that now a widely available DVD box set has two cuts of the film to view, The Final Cut and the (rough) Work Print.

With so many versions of the film around over the years, it's hard to gauge what a true weighted rating the picture has. Personally I feel sure that if judged solely on the "Final Cut" version the film would be better regarded and rated far better than some of its internet scores. That's not to say it's a perfect film, for it's not, some problems exist, and the flow of the film, even by Richard Stanley's own admission, is far from fluent these days. However, it's one hell of a fine movie, technically stunning and with a horror story of deep cranial worth. Starring Robert Burke (Devil), Chelsea Field (Wendy) and Zakes Mokae (Ben), "Dust Devil" has three interwoven character plots dovetailing together towards the apocalyptic finale. Along the way we are treated to much dialogue cloaked in haunting mysticism, with dashes of grim horror that assault the senses. It's a pic that begs revisits to truly appreciate the complexity of it, never mind that the visuals alone are worth seeing time and time again. It will remain a divisive film, of that I don't think there is any doubt, yet I would urge any genre fan who hasn't seen it to at least give it a go. You may not be as impressed with it as myself and its many fans are, but one feels you are unlikely to forget having ever seen it. Mesmerising, haunting and even lyrical, it's hoped that the film in its final form will find a more appreciative audience. 9/10

I just seen the longest version available of Dust Devil and I was looking forward to finally see it but at the end I wasn't that happy because to be honest, it wasn't my cup of tea. I had seen Hardware (1990) simply because Carl McCoy (Fields Of The Nephilim) had a role in it. Hardware I did like and Dust Devil you can feel the same atmosphere so typical for director Richard Stanley but it's the story that let me down.

I was told that it was full of gory moments and it do has a few of those moments and it even got news footage of dead bodies but it's a slow moving flick. It starts well with the dust devil slashing his victim and cutting the body in pieces, the effects used are all well and I thought that it would be a hell of a ride but all I saw were nice shoots made by Richard and somehow I was lost with the story and was looking to nature. Now and then it did offer the mentioned gore but by then for me it was too late.

Nevertheless it's a flick with much following and loved by many but for me it had too many boring moments.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

The titular Dust Devil is an evil demon that preys only on those who have lost the reason to live.This includes Wendy,who has broken up with her husband and is now making her way aimlessly across the South African desert.Feeling lonely,she picks up a stray by the name of Hitch and the nightmare begins...Richard Stanley's "Dust Devil" re-interprets the true story of a South African serial killer,known among locals as "Nhadiep".Bizarre ritualistic murders took place in the town of Bethany.The killer who inspired Dust Devil preyed on migrant workers and railways workers."Dust Devil" is a creepy and hypnotic horror film.Richard Stanley of "Hardware" fame relies on the magical elements of the legend of Nhadiep,invoking tribal rituals,witchcraft and Namibian mysticism.There is also a good amount of gore splashed on screen.The cinematography of Namibian desert is absolutely fantastic and there are some striking visuals.A must-see for horror enthusiasts!

A bizarre horror movie about a devil in human form who hunts the Australian outback for victims on which to feed.

I give the movie credit for its compelling sense of style -- the filmmakers did not want this to be a run-of-the-mill slasher, and the material is treated far more seriously (and as a result effectively) than it might have been in any number of other versions. But that style is also part of the film's problem. It's so preoccupied with its artsy trappings that it never gets around to telling a compelling story. The narrative moves forward in confusing fits and starts, never grounding the audience thoroughly enough or for long enough at any one time to allow it to care much about what's going on. It does have a satisfyingly creepy ending, I'll give it that much, if you still care about it by the time it comes around.

Grade: B-

Since the beginning of time strange creatures known as "shape-shifters" have taken human form and fed on the life-essence of human beings prior to passing on to another dimension. This movie begins with such a creature nicknamed "Texas" (Robert John Burke) who can harness the wind over the desert terrain to form what the natives of Namibia call a Dust Devil. Yet while he certainly has great power the fact that he is trapped in human form gives him certain weaknesses which native witch doctors are able to understand to a certain degree. This valuable information is passed on to a police detective named "Ben Mukurob" (Zakes Mokae) who is witnessing first-hand the bloody destruction which Texas leaves in his wake as he devours one human being after another. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that for a horror film it had great potential. Unfortunately, there were some parts which moved much too slowly and involved quite a bit of mumbo-jumbo but failed to adequately explaining anything. It was almost like they were making stuff up as they went along. So essentially viewers have no choice but to simply watch what happens next and try to figure everything out for themselves. That said, although I thought the special effects were good and I liked the presence of Chelsea Field (as "Wendy Robinson") I still felt that the movie overall needed some improvement and as a result I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.