Dust Devil (4K UHD Review)
Director
Richard StanleyRelease Date(s)
1992 (October 28, 2025)Studio(s)
Miramax Films (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: See Below
- Video Grade: See Below
- Audio Grade: See Below
- Extras Grade: B
Review
South African writer/director Richard Stanley is a fascinating filmmaker who has frequently had a cloud over his head, both personally and professionally. He made a splash in 1990 with his debut feature Hardware, but just six years later, he was fired a few days into the production of the legendarily troubled The Island of Dr. Moreau remake (in hindsight, Stanley may have actually dodged a bullet with that one). That left him in director’s jail for more than two decades, at least as far as mainstream filmmaking was concerned, and his eventual return behind the director’s chair with Color Out of Space in 2019 was marred when he was accused of domestic abuse two years later. Yet that dark cloud has followed Stanley all throughout his career, and it didn’t start with The Island of Dr. Moreau, either. During the six-year span between Hardware and that film, he worked on another project that seemed cursed from its inception: Dust Devil.
Dust Devil actually began as an unfinished 16mm student film that Stanley shot in 1984 as a way of breaking into the movie business (similar to what Sam Raimi had already done with his Super 8mm short Within the Woods). That version of the film went walkabout in 1989, never to be seen again, after a dispute with an ex-girlfriend (something that would end up being a running theme in his life). Yet after the success of Hardware the next year, Stanley was finally able to get a feature version financed through Palace Pictures and Film Four International, with the participation of British Screen and Miramax (through their Dimension Films label). That’s a lot of cooks with their hands in the pot, and the broth was eventually spoiled as a result. Stanley told Sight and Sound in 1992 that his initial cut was 120 minutes, which he later tightened to 110. But by the time that he got through the gauntlet of test screenings, it had been hacked down to 87 minutes, and that’s the version that was distributed theatrically by Dimension in the United States. Yet Stanley personally financed a reconstruction of his original cut, which screened in London as the 108 minute Dust Devil: The Final Cut in 1993 before going straight to video. It was a long, strange trip to get to that point.
While there’s no question that the longer cut of Dust Devil is superior to the theatrical release, it’s fair to question Stanley’s version of events since he can be an unreliable narrator who has always seemed willing to fan the flames of his own legend. That starts with the conception of Dust Devil, which came partly from his own dreams, but it was also inspired by the legends of a Namibian serial killer called Nhadiep who may (or may not have been) killed by the police in 1982. At least, that’s what Stanley has said to Sight and Sound and other sources. The problem is that it’s difficult to find any documentary evidence about Nhadiep outside of stories related to Dust Devil and another fictional film (which we’ll get to in a moment), or even to a string of murders in Namibia during that admittedly chaotic period in the country’s history. While there have been a variety of serial killers in South Africa, the only Namibian one mentioned anywhere is the “B1 Butcher” who was active in the early 2000s.
Nhadiep was also the subject of the 1989 film Windprints, directed by Black Sails producer David Wicht. Windprints opens with a title card that states: “In April 1982, the South African occupation forces launched a massive manhunt in southern Namibia for a mysterious serial killer who had become a legend among his own people.” Yet the closing credits at the end of the film offer the standard disclaimer that “all characters and situations portrayed in this film are entirely fictitious. Any likeness to any persons living or dead or to any events is entirely coincidental,” without any kind of “while this film is based on real events” qualifier. It’s true that the South African colonial government launched a variety of manhunts during that period, but their targets were usually members of the SWAPO resistance movement (Namibia didn’t officially gain independence until 1990).
Was there really a Nhadiep, or did Stanley just take inspiration from the story for Windprints and incorporate it into his existing story from the 16mm short? In the end, that doesn’t really matter, but it does provide important historical context for the final version of Stanley’s film. Dust Devil is steeped in magic, myth, and legend, but it takes place in a very real Namibia that had suffered for more than a century under the oppression of colonial governance. Stanley told Sight and Sound that his memories of South Africa included “terrible fire-arm abuse, serial killings, car accidents, (and) people being strangled with barbed wire,” which were birthed by the twin evils of racism and sexism endemic to that region during that era. He also mentioned that “South Africa is very big on wife-beating, women are treated appallingly, and there's very little women's liberation” (which is ironic given the later allegations against him). All of that informed the story of Dust Devil.
Dust Devil traces the intertwined stories of a malevolent hitchhiker, the black police officer hunting him down, and a woman who has just left her husband and ends up getting drawn into the hunt. The hitchhiker (Robert John Burke) is a serial killer who may be the incarnate form of a desert spirit chasing after the weak and the faithless in order to end their suffering. At least, that’s the interpretation offered by Joe (John Matshikiza), a mystic who is consulted by Sergeant Ben Mukurob (Zakes Mokae). Ben has been assigned to the case by his white superior officer Captain Cornelius Beyman (William Hootkins), and he rejects Joe’s interpretation due to the fact that he’s lost his own faith since his wife left him after the death of their son. At the same time, Wendy (Chelsea Field) has left her abusive husband (Rufus Swart) and hit the road in search of... well, she’s not exactly sure what. Wendy’s in the depths of despair and feeling suicidal ideation, which is what draws the hitchhiker to her. That leads to a three-way chase between Ben, Wendy, and the hitchhiker, but in the end, only one of them can rule the road.
Dust Devil exists at the intersection between dreams and reality, with both Ben and Wendy being unable to distinguish between the two. Ben doesn’t believe in magic, or at least that’s what he claims, but it’s not so much that he doesn’t believe as he doesn’t want to believe. He’s been living in denial, and confronting the hitchhiker forces him to confront that fact (regardless of whether or not the killer is ethereal or corporeal). Wendy, on the other hand, has simply lost her will to live, which is what draws the hitchhiker to her. What follows may be a dream or it may be reality, but either way, Dust Devil takes place within a waking dream state that obliterates conventional lines between fantasy and reality. Ben has been forced to deal with the reality of the racism that exists within his own police force, while Wendy has been forced to deal with the reality of sexism at the hands of her abusive husband. What happens when they encounter the hitchhiker may be fantasy, but it’s still fantasy that’s born of the harsh reality of life in South Africa. While Stanley deliberately left all of that somewhat ambiguous, he did offer an interpretive key to Sight and Sound:
“The idea in my version is that, just as vampires have to be invited into your home before they can take you, so Hitch can only take people who want to die. Both Ben and Wendy are seeking out the Dust Devil as an end to their pain; they are searching for death. To me, Dust Devil is about magic and suicide. That is the key to my version.”
As a result, it’s not surprising that Dust Devil ended up being a troubled film. After all, it was born out of the imagination of a filmmaker who has experienced plenty of trouble of his own, and it was inevitable that the cloud over his head would darken the films that he makes. Yet great art is sometimes born from great pain, and the various pains suffered by the people of Namibia, Richard Stanley, and (allegedly) his domestic partners all ended up informing the creation of one of the most unique horror films of the Nineties. It’s a fever dream of a film that was driven by the stark reality of pain, oppression, and suffering. While the story may bear some superficial similarities to Robert Harmon’s The Hitcher, the actual experience of watching Dust Devil couldn’t be more different. It’s The Hitcher meets Carnival of Souls, with a generous dose of Nicholas Roeg thrown in for good measure—and an even more generous dose of the reality of life in South Africa. There’s nothing else quite like it.
Cinematographer Steven Chivers shot Dust Devil on 35mm film using spherical lenses, framed at 1.85:1 for its theatrical release. This version of the director’s cut is based on a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative, cleaned up and graded for High Dynamic Range in Dolby Vision and HDR10, with results approved by Stanley. (More on the theatrical cut in a moment). Aside from some brief speckling during the opening credits, the rest of the film looks pristine, with nicely resolved fine detail, especially in environmental textures like gravel, sand, and the ubiquitous dust. Chivers did employ diffusion in some shots, and all of the effects work was composited optically, so things can vary a bit from shot to shot, but it all looks like it should. The colors are gorgeous, really leaning into the oranges that dominate the visual design of the film. Contrast, black levels, and densities are all excellent. The only issue is that Kino Lorber has encoded both versions of the film on one disc, so the bitrate generally hovers in the 40mbps range. That’s occasionally detrimental to the grain reproduction, and some of the background textures can end up looking a little smeary. (The first part of the closing credits also looks like it was upscaled from SD.) In all other respects, however, fans should be thrilled by this 4K makeover of the director’s cut.
Unfortunately, the theatrical cut is a different story. It appears to have been upscaled from a 2K or even 1080p source, or at least parts of it were, and not necessarily just the altered footage. The textures can look sharp and detailed in one shot, and smooth and waxy in the next—sometimes, it shifts within the same shot. It looks like AI detail enhancement was used, and without someone monitoring it in order to guide the results. In the sequence where Wendy gets out of the tub at 22:55, details appear and disappear as she walks to the door. Textures on her back suddenly go smooth, and water droplets wink in and out of existence. In the closeup at 30:32, the subtle lines on her face suddenly get exaggerated, making her look like she aged in the middle of the shot. Yet the worst example may be when Wendy and the hitchhiker are standing next to each other at 46:10, where their faces look like they’ve been airbrushed—literally, as in it looks like someone has physically sprayed paint on the screen. There’s also speckling and other damage visible that’s not present in the director’s cut. It’s a mess. Fortunately, most people will prefer the director’s cut, but it’s still a shame that the theatrical cut wasn’t treated better.
Audio is offered in English 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, with optional English subtitles. Dust Devil was released theatrically in Dolby SR, so it’s theoretically a four-channel mix matrix encode into two. It’s not clear if this 2.0 is the theatrical mix or a fold-down of the discrete 5.1 version, because there’s not much surround activity either way; the bulk of the sonic energy is spread across the front channels. The 5.1 version does offer significantly more bass extension, but the tradeoff is that it’s muddier and boomy in comparison. Simon Boswell’s memorable score sounds fine in both versions, but on the balance, you’re better off sticking with 2.0.
DIRECTOR’S CUT (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): B+/B+/B+
THEATRICAL CUT (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): B-/C/B+
The Kino Lorber 4K Ultra HD release of Dust Devil is a two-disc set that includes a Blu-ray with a 1080p copy of the film. There’s also a slipcover that duplicates the artwork on the insert (it looks like new art, but there’s no other information available about it). The following extras are included:
DISC ONE: UHD
- Commentary by Richard Stanley (Director's Cut Only)
DISC TWO: BD
- Commentary by Richard Stanley (Director's Cut Only)
- Richard Stanley: Dust Devil and Other Misadventures (SD – 35:28)
- Original Storyboards (HD – 10:41)
- Original Polaroids (HD – 1:46)
- 16mm Trailer (SD – 2:01)
- Theatrical Trailer (HD – 1:37)
- Hardware Trailer (HD – 2:08)
- Rampage Trailer (HD – 1:04)
- The Silence of the Lambs Trailer (HD – 1:52)
Kino Lorber describes this commentary as a “NEW audio commentary by writer/director Richard Stanley,” but it’s actually the same track that was originally used on the 2006 Limited Collector’s Edition DVD from Subversive Cinema (although it may have been recorded earlier, since Stanley makes a reference to 2003 at one point). Subversive Cinema’s Norman Hill serves as a moderator for the track, and he brought pages of questions with him, so in practice it’s as much an interview as it is a commentary track. Stanley traces the history of Dust Devil all the way back to the lost 16mm short. He discusses his inspirations (like his own dreams) and various cultural themes and visual motifs, like the circles throughout the film and why the hitchhiker uses a camera to record his victims. He also covers practical challenges like burning the house at the beginning of the film; having to wait for hundreds of hours waiting on location until they were lucky enough to shoot a real dust devil; and making a few changes after The Hitcher ended up being released first (that’s why the hitchhiker holds out his hand instead of using his thumb). Stanley makes a few minor errors along the way, like misidentifying William Hootkins as having played Biggs in the original Star Wars instead of Porkins, but he’s always a fascinating speaker, so this is still a great track.
Richard Stanley: Dust Devil and Other Misadventures is an interview with Stanley that was also recorded for the 2006 Subversive Cinema DVD. Stanley starts by stepping through the early part of his career, including the 16mm version of Dust Devil, and breaks down the differences between that version and the eventual 35mm feature film. He also talks about other films like Hardware and Voice of the Moon before breaking down the making of Dust Devil. Simon Boswell also makes a separate appearance near the end to discuss the score (which is interesting, because Stanley previously stated that he actually prefers the music in the Super 8mm version).
There’s also a set of storyboards, some production Polaroids, and trailers for both the 35mm and 16mm versions of Dust Devil (the latter is set to Boswell’s music, so it was finished after the 35mm version was completed). Yet there’s a ton of stuff missing from the Subversive Cinema Limited Collector’s Edition, including: a reconstruction of the workprint for Dust Devil; the featurettes Dust Devil: Home Movies and Dust Devil: 16mm Scrapbook; a collection of documentaries directed by Stanley including Voice of the Moon, The White Darkness, and The Secret Glory; commentaries and interviews with Stanley for each of them; and a copy of the soundtrack CD. Most of those were carried over to Koch Media’s 2019 Limited Collector’s Edition Blu-ray in Germany, which also added an interview with Marianne Sägebrecht.
Some of those have also been carried over to the new UHD release from Umbrella Entertainment in Australia (we have a copy of that on the way, so stay tuned for a review). Umbrella’s version also appears to have been encoded by David Mackenzie at Fidelity in Motion, so we’ll see how it looks in comparison, but many viewers may not even notice the difference. Regardless, Kino’s version still offers vastly improved video quality compared to DVD and Blu-ray (for the director’s cut, anyway). For most fans, it’ll be more than good enough.
-Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).