Dust Devil

Plot synopsis:
Joe Niemand (John Matshikiza), a Sangoma near Spitzkoppe in Namibia, begins a tale that states "back in the first times, in the time of the red light, Desert Wind was a man like us. Until by mischance, he grew wings and flew like a bird. He became a hunter, and like a hawk, he flew to seek his prey. Taking refuge in those far corners of the world where magic still lingers. But having once been a man, so does he still suffer the passions of a man, flying in the rages sometimes, and throwing himself down like a child, to vent his wrath upon the earth. The people of the great Namib have another name for those violent winds that blow from nowhere. They call them Dust Devils."
A middle-aged man (Robert John Burke) walks on a road in the desert, and pulls over a car with a woman named Saarke (Terri Norton) driving in it, who takes him back to her house. while the two are making love, the man snaps Saarke's neck, killing her. Meanwhile, in the town of Bethanie, Sgt. Ben Mukurob (Zakes Mokae) receives a phone call with strange voices speaking, as does Wendy Robinson (Chelsea Field) in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the morning, the man burns down Saarke's house, inside which he has drawn many strange symbols and pictographs. he then gets into Saarke's car and drives away. In Johannesburg, Wendy's husband Mark (Rufus Swart) accuses her of cheating on him, causing her to leave him and drive to Namibia. Meanwhile, Mukurob receives a call about Saarke's house and drives to investigate with his superior, Capt. Beyman (William Hootkins). Mukurob visits Dr. Leidzinger (Marianne Sägebrecht), who tells him that the incident may be a part of a strange witchcraft ritual.
Wendy runs her car off the road and finds an abandoned camper (which Dust Devil had hitched a ride with at Bethanie) with a strange man, who she asks to help her push her car out of the sand. She then sees Dust Devil on the side of the road, and stops for him. Cpl. Dutoit (Russell Copley) and Cpl. Bates (Andre Odendaal) find the abandoned camper with dismembered body parts inside. Mukurob drives to Joe's home, the former Bethanie cinema, and asks him about the symbols that were in the house. He responds that it was the work of magic, to which Mukurob scoffs. Wendy and Dust Devil continue driving and pass another hitch-hiker, but Dust Devil tells Wendy not to stop. As they pass the hitch-hiker, Dust Devil disappears from the car.
Beyman tells Mukurob that he has to take him off the case and hand it over to the U.N., but says that he can give any information to him. Wendy stops at a small motel for the night and tries to cut her wrists, as Dust Devil waits with a razor outside the bathroom door, but Wendy does not commit suicide. She goes to her car the next morning and finds Dust Devil inside, who tells her that she was asleep the day before.
Meanwhile, Beyman gives Mukurob a pile of documented murders similar to the one he is following. Wendy and Dust Devil reach the Fish River Canyon as Wendy's husband Mark, arrives in Namibia. Mukurob has another of his recurring nightmares and is visited by Joe, who tells him to go with him. Mark arrives in Bethanie and asks about Wendy, but is beaten up by some of the people at the bar. Joe takes Mukurob to a small mountain cave and tells him that the murders are the work of the "naghtloeper", a shape-shifting demon who seeks power over the material world through the ritual of murder. He draws the weak and the faithless to him, and sucks them dry. Joe explains that the naghtloeper must keep moving to work the ritual, but if he is tricked to step over a kierie stick, he will be bound to one spot and his power can be taken. Joe then gives Mukurob a kierie and a sacred root to burn to prevent the naghtloeper from possessing him after it is killed.
Wendy discovers human fingers among Dust Devil's belongings and he tries to kill her, but Wendy knocks him out and escapes. Dust Devil then chases her and causes her car to crash, forcing Wendy to run across the desert. Meanwhile, Mukurob releases Mark from prison and together they search for Wendy. As they try to drive through a dust storm, Dust Devil attacks them, causing the car to flip over. Mukurob handcuffs Mark to the car and heads into the storm, telling him that he has a chance since the naghtloeper only takes those who have nothing to live for. Wendy reaches the abandoned town of Kolmanskop where Mukurob finds her and searches for Dust Devil. He runs into Dust Devil, who stabs him. Wendy then finds Dust Devil and tries to shoot him but the gun jams. As Dust Devil walks toward her, Mukurob takes the kierie and puts it in front of Dust Devil as he steps forward. Wendy picks up Mukurob's shotgun and kills Dust Devil as he says, "I love you, Wendy". Wendy then walks into the desert past Mark and the car, lies on the road and pulls over a fleet of army Casspirs.
The film ends with Joe saying, "The desert knows her name now, he has stolen both her eyes. When she looks into a mirror, she will see his spirit like a shawl blowing tatters around her shoulders in a haze. And beyond the dim horizon, a tapestry unfolding of the avenues of evil, and all of history set ablaze."

Tags: allegory, cult, psychedelic

Review:
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!.
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.
When police detective Ben Mukurob arrives on the scene it becomes apparent that her companion is something far worse than 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.
Starring Robert Burke {Devil}, Chelsea Field {Wendy} and Zakes Mokae {Ben}, Dust Devil has three interwoven character plots dovetailing together towards an apocalyptic finale.
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.
The narration is subtracted, there is less music, less repeated shots of the moon, sky, and desert landscape, less peripheral views of the political and social context of the time and town, less time spent with the characters, a few dream sequences gone entirely, and a great sequence towards the end that takes place in a makeshift movie theater and recalls Ingmar Bergman's "Persona"(where for a brief momentum the movie itself falls out of joint), all get left on the chopping block in the US release.My first impression was terrible, but my second viewing of the longer cut was like seeing the film with fresh eyes.
What makes Dust Devil worth watching is the Stanley's milking the landscape and the sky for all it's shamanic glory (so we may better understand the demon as a force of nature itself), and Burke's alternately charming, cold, sensitive, or demonic performances.
The few moments which recall most directly a horror movie come few and far between the scenes of poetic narration, police procedural, and eye fulls of the Namibian desert and the dust devils(mini tornadoes) which dot it's landscape.
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.
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.
Being a big fan of HARDWARE, Richard Stanley's previous film, I really wanted to see DUST DEVIL for some time now.
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.
"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".
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
Despite the supernatural, rituals, witchcraft and mystic elements for the most part Dust Devil is fixed in reality reminiscent of Angel Heart and David Lynch's works.It's a wonderfully shot, slow burning film containing symbolic themes - relationships, suicide and self destruction to name a few.
Director Richard Stanley's sophomore film, Dust Devil, is a haunting and effective horror story, about a demon in human form (Robert Burke), who kills lonely people in ritualistic fashion.
I do remember seeing his sci-fi/horror/action cult favorite, HARDWARE, back in the good old days of VHS, and it kicked MAJOR butt-cheeks back then.Here's the deal: apparently, DUST DEVIL went through the usual headaches and hardships during filming, Bottom line: a finished 'director's cut' of this movie as of now, does not exist.
As it happens, there are two souls on a collision course with Mr. DD: a police detective, Ben Mukurob (THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW'S Zakes Mokae) whose wife left him after the tragic death of their child, and a woman named Wendy Robinson, (Chelsea Field of PRISON and THE LAST BOY SCOUT), who has just left her clingy husband, Mark, (Rufus Swart), after he finds out she's been having an affair.With his job the only thing he has left to look forward to, Ben dives into the investigation of the murder of the Dust Devil's latest victim with a vengeance.
But eventually, the paths of all three people will cross at some point and all of them will encounter the Dust Devil...though not all of them will live to tell about it.I wish I could say that including the shots from the work print does the movie justice, but the transition between clean, sharp cuts and the fuzzy, murky segments from the dailies doesn't allow the movie to weave the completely seductive and creepy spell that Stanley was ultimately after, and it makes you wonder what the finished film would've been like if he'd been able to gain all the resources and money he needed to give it that proper 'polish.' As is, though, it's still pretty heady stuff.
allstarvideo blogspot Dust Devil is that rare movie that is both art film and genre piece.
The film centers on three major characters: Ben Mukurob (Zakes Mokae), who is a Zulu policeman who has been hunting the Dust Devil (Robert John Burke) and Wendy (played by Chelsea Field, who you might know better as the flight attendant in Commando "Don't wake my friend, he's dead tired" or Teela in Masters of the Universe -Dolph Lundgren!).
A shame really as i consider this movie in it's director's [cut] form as a cross breed hybrid employing the visual technique's of Argento and Leone to be far superior, to either Hardware or dare i even say The Island of Dr Moreau, Although one get's the feeling that the way in which Stanley was usurped from his pet project, The production history of that film will linger far longer in the memories of film anoraks, than anything that emerged from the cine delight that was Dust Devil.How would you describe Dust Devil to that most jaded of film fan who might have found themselves submerged in the mire of half baked, totally deluded big blockbuster or small ballbuster films, that they might have had to endure down through the years, that would make them want to watch this, Hmmm let me see.Taking his cue from those aforementioned masters of "Chills and Spills" Messrs Argento/Leone, this film would be sumised as a Psycho-Killer Spaghetti western whose basic premise plays on the many facets of the dark side, with Robert John Burke portraying the title character, simply known as Hitch, who trawls through the sprawling plains of the Great Namib Desert, searching out and decimating towns which no longer have the will to live, his reason for doing this?
an undying need ro quench his tortured soul, which for the most part within the movie appears in the form of mortal man.The film begins in narrative fashion with an old desert bushman expositioning on the genesis that details the mythological boundaries in which the Dust Devil conforms to, down through the years the township locals believe that the devils strength is aided by the howling winds that blow so fierce.Coming from the pop music background, Richard Stanley utillises every trick in the book, as indeed he did with Hardware, the difference between the two, was that Hardware was a pop video, Dust Devil had story and visuals, and dare i say more depth.
I remember reading an article years, in which Stanley stated that his lead Actor was a bit too Hollywood for his liking, I'm inclined to think, not quite, as yes Burke has travelled in those circles, but let's not forget he did make his mark in two early Hal Hartley films The Unbelievable Truth and Simple Men, to me he essayed just that right amount of cool and menace.Using these two essential techniques, Stanley's camera prowls like a panther through the nomadic setting as the titular character waits by the roadside for his latest victim, in this instance, this will be his first victim, as what follows is an energetic sex scene whereby the victim dies in mid pleasure from a broken neck, he then proceeds to decorate her house with the contents of her body, ofcourse not forgetting to take a little bodily souvenir for his troubles.Once the initial set piece has been revealed, the second narrative plot strand involving Chelsea[Prison]Field as disenchanted housewife, Wendy trying to escape her from her less than happy home, leaving her bemused hubby in her wake as she tears away in the family car, off into unknown, ofcourse as we now, for the story to develop, the characters of Wendy and the Dust Devil will meet, the husband will search in vain for answers as to why his has left him.Until they do meet, the film's scenery is chewed up by such horror stalwarts as William[Hardware/Death Machine/Flash Gordon] Hootkins, and Zakes[Serpent and the Rainbow] Mokae appearing as two hard bitten South African Law Enforcers, also if you can look out for the actor, Russell Copley as Cpl Dutoit, as when Richard Stanley made Dust Devil as a student short, he played the original Devil of the title.Have i sold it to you yet, i haven't given too much away, lest i say, if you want watch the screen, as it welters in a sea of blood and exploding heads.
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..
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.
This is essentially a horror movie but it transcends genre simply because the text is multi-layered; there's so much attention to detail here, blink and you'll miss it (like the Devil's reflection in the mirror at the first victim's house).Like in Stanley's other famous film, Hardware, the desert becomes something greater than the sum of its parts; something strange, unknown and ultimately treacherous, the sandstorm from which the shape-shifter emanates, the refuge for Wendy fleeing from her husband, and the place of Ben's reckoning and redemption.Original, provocative, dark and satisfying, this, while essentially following horror narrative, is a truly unique movie and lingers long in the memory..
Part horror, part serial killer thriller, part supernatural Western, and featuring some unforgettable surrealist sequences, "Dust Devil" is one of the most distinctive and under-appreciated horror films there are, and as good as its original cut was, Richard Stanley's final cut improves drastically on it, making "Dust Devil" a must see film.The technical aspects of "Dust Devil", Simon Boswell's haunting score, the beautiful look of the film, and the excellent work with the sound, and Stanely's creative and intelligent direction make this film one of the most aesthetically pleasing of the early nineties.
I can't pick on the acting either, some of which is excellent, the rest of which is serviceable.Any film with a concept as original and intriguing as "Dust Devil" and one that is executed this well deserves to be seen, and now that the final cut has been released and can be relatively easily found, there's no excuse not to.8.5/10.
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.
South Africa's all-time horror classic Dust Devil (1992) spins a genuinely chilling tale of a supernatural shape-shifter roaming the Capetown area in the form of a particularly vicious serial murderer (played by Robert John Burke).
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.
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 games begin when the drifter hitches a ride with the aforementioned woman, and as the officer begins to piece together the natural and supernatural elements of the case...DUST DEVIL is a strong film in terms of a relatively unknown and low-budget horror/thriller - but the pacing is often slow and plodding and makes what othewise could have been a nearly great film into a merely good one.
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.
This comment is related to the director's cut of "Dust Devil", one of the biggest film disappointments I have had in recent years, in part due to the story surrounding its release: it creates expectation and anticipation, making one think that this is another case of American distributors ravaging a fine work.