by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: Discs: 4, The Film: 4/5, The Extras: 5/5, Overall: 9/10
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Robert John Burke, Chelsea Field, Rufus Swart, Zakes Mokae
Intro:
… a mesmerising journey across a vast wasteland of lost souls, corrosive regret and self-destructive desires.
The Film:
In 1992, South African director Richard Stanley was riding high. His directorial debut Hardware – a low budget post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller about a stroppy war robot resenting its use in the found object artwork of a discontented redhead – was a surprise hit, and audiences were eager to see what ol’ mate could come up with next. Stanley’s sophomore effort ended up being the dreamy, witchy Dust Devil, an ambitious film that was utterly butchered on its initial release by distributors who couldn’t fathom what to do with the bloody thing and was mostly dismissed by audiences who found the cobbled together edits striking but incoherent. Your humble word janitor saw the flick on VHS back in ‘92 and shrugged, opining, “Eh, it’s pretty but slow and not as good as Hardware.”
Now, in this year of our Dark Lord 2026, Dust Devil gets a second chance to make a great first impression with Umbrella’s feature rich 4K transfer, which includes the superior (and coherent) director’s cut and heaps of other goodies.
Set mostly in Namibia, Dust Devil is the story of mysterious lost people. There’s the titular Dust Devil (Robert John Burke), a spirit that wears the skin of a man who is driven on the earthly plane to inflict untold suffering to those he is drawn to, murdering them and mutilating their bodies, stealing their appendages and painting with their blood and organs. There’s discontented redhead (a running theme for Stanley’s work) Wendy (Chelsea Field), who has grown tired of her boofhead husband, Mark (Rufus Swart), and her safe, dull life in Johannesburg. She yearns for something more intense and real, and once she flees to Namibia, boy, does she find it! There’s also Sergeant Ben Mukurob (Zakes Mokae), a grizzled old copper on the hunt for the Dust Devil, hoping to find redemption by ending this trail of bizarre, occult-inflected violence.
In terms of the viewing experience, Dust Devil is like watching a series of intersecting dream sequences while under the influence of a small but potent amount of psilocybin mushrooms. Even if the hardest drug you’ve done in decades is a particularly strong pot of peppermint tea, Dust Devil is a trip! Dripping with a surreal atmosphere, it takes full advantage of its locations in Namibia, showcasing endless desert vistas, dusty canyons and desolate ghost towns that are half swallowed by the hungry sands. Performances are very strong, with Burke managing to be both threatening and oddly sympathetic, a creature at once vicious and somehow powerless against his own nature. Chelsea Field is also a fascinating protagonist, someone who just wants to break out of her cage even if it costs her everything. Plus, Zakes Mokae is a wonderfully grounding feature to the narrative, giving the audience something, anything, to latch onto that conforms to the more familiar serial killer narrative.
Where Dust Devil is weakest, however, is undeniably in the script. Stanley is a superb visual stylist, and this is some of his most beautiful work, however, his script labours under its own overweening ambition and lack of focus. The pacing is wildly uneven, with the second act in particular getting bogged down in repetitious beats. That said, the final half hour gets right back on track with a climax that is gory, tragic, defiantly downbeat and leaves itself open to interpretation.
Dust Devil is clearly a deeply personal movie for Stanley, one that doesn’t much care if you’re keeping up, but if you can get attuned to its weird western rhythms and overlook some of its narrative shortcomings, this is a mesmerising journey across a vast wasteland of lost souls, corrosive regret and self-destructive desires.
The Extras:
Much like the aftermath of the Dust Devil’s work, the extras on offer here are a smorgasbord of glistening organs and mysterious giblets. There are three cuts of the movie, the Theatrical Cut, the superior Director’s Cut and the Workprint Cut introduced by Richard Stanley. There are two brand spanking new audio commentaries, one with Stanley himself and another with film critics Bryn Tilly and Richard Kuipers. There’s also an older 2006 audio commentary from Stanley, moderated by Norman Hill.
There’s a host of Making Of featurettes, interviews, video essays and deleted scenes. You even get the original Dust Devil 16mm short film from 1984. However, Disc 3 is where things really get berko. There are two feature length documentaries from Stanley, The Secret Glory and White Darkness, both heavily invested in the occult and fortean themes. Are they great? Your mileage may vary, but they’re pretty bloody interesting.
You might think that’d be it, but slow your roll, hoss, because there’s more. Disc 4, in defiance of logic and reason, offers Stanley’s 2019 Lovecraft adaptation The Colour Out of Space (which is well worth your time) and, staggeringly, the fantastic documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau! For those paying attention, that’s three cuts of the main movie, three feature length documentaries (including Lost Soul which is a deadset all timer) and a second feature film that’s a goopy blast. There’s also an extra special edition that comes bundled with Stanley’s debut Hardware for a bit of extra dosh, but Hardware deserves its own review, so keep your eye out for that one coming soon.
Basically, this is an absurdly generous offering and when combined with the beautiful 100+ page artbook chockers with images and essays, a 100+ page softback with script, shooting diary and storyboards, a poster, artcards and a huge, gorgeous hard box to store the whole thing, it’s pretty much a must buy for avid collectors or enthusiasts of Stanley’s underrated oeuvre.
The Verdict:
Dust Devil remains a flawed but fascinating film, ambitious, personal and unique. Bundled here with some of the iconic director’s other work in an absurdly gorgeous package that is dripping with style and extras, it’s a dream realised for anyone who ever wanted Richard Stanley’s sophomore film to finally get a chance to wander those sun drenched highways in high definition, with blood spattered cowboy boots and a need to kill.
