I apologize for my lack of reviews. I’ve had writer’s block. Now, let’s get back to work, shall we?

I remember the first time that I witnessed Richard Stanley’s Hardware. My sister and I sat in a nearly empty theater and loved every minute of it. From the very first shot, I was positive that I was witnessing the birth of a new and fantastic genre director. By the end of the film, I knew that I wanted to see this director make a lot more movies. So, when I heard about his follow-up, Dust Devil, I was ecstatic.

Unfortunately, when the film was finally released, the distributors had cut nearly 30 minutes from the film without Stanley’s approval. Still, it was a beautiful and interesting movie that didn’t really make a whole hell of a lot of sense.

So finally, Stanley tracked down as much of the cut footage as possible and WITH HIS OWN MONEY, put together the most complete version of Dust Devil that will probably ever exist. It clocks in at 105 minutes, which means we’re only missing about 15 minutes, this time. This guy is fucking dedicated. But does the additional material make the movie any better? Hell fucking yes, it does!

The movie centers on a mysterious hitchhiker in Africa, who takes Polaroids of the people who give him rides. Kinda weird. And then he later kills them. Kind of a dick, eh?

Our heroine has left her husband and she, obviously, ends up giving this guy a lift. But, for some reason, he spends more time talking with her and she sort of falls for him.

Meanwhile, the local lawman (the always welcome Zakes Mokae) is trying to get to the bottom of the random murders taking place. Turns out this may not be the work of Joe Normal Killer, but some sort of demon that is somehow trapped as part human and can get back to his world by the ritual of murder.

Oh, and our heroine’s husband comes looking for her.

That your basics, folks. To say more would deny you the pleasure of going on this somewhat subdued, yet intense ride on your own. The film is not going to totally spell it out for you, but it gives you what you need.

First of all, the visuals are so beautiful that sometimes I forgot to follow the plot of the movie. The desert, cliffs, abandoned towns…….. Fuck it. There is absolutely NO way to express to you how gorgeous and lush this film is (hence the title of my review). Stanley has outdone himself, here. Of course you have to give props to cinematographer Steven Chivers, as well, but this is obviously Stanley’s baby, all the way.

Robert Burke, who plays the Dust Devil, puts in a fantastic performance. Although he is our “bad guy”, he creates a character that is both determined, yet conflicted. You can actually understand and feel for this guy or thing, or whatever. Whatever happened to Mr. Burke? Gonna have to check the IMDB.

The music is also fantastic. It wonderfully matches the feel of the visuals. I love Simon Boswell and I’m gonna have to look him up, too. I had a friend once mention that it was a shame that in our day and age the greatest composers are the ones that do soundtracks for movies. (or something like that) I know what she means. Back in the day (which, according to Dane Cook, was a Tuesday) great composers wrote music that hundreds of people would go to hear. Amen.

This DVD set is also fucking great. You get the film proper, a work print, three (3) documentaries that Stanley directed and the goddamn soundtrack, as well. And the set is cheap, too. How did they pull that off? I see sets with fewer discs for $50 and these guys get you all this shit for about $20, I believe. (I didn’t care how much it cost, I’ve been waiting over 15 years for this version.) There’s also a nice booklet that contains Stanley’s production diary. And another booklet with a short comic book.

What’s most fascinating about this film is that it’s based on actual events. Mysterious murders happened in Africa and Stanley insisted that movie be shot in the exact locations where those occurred. I told you this guy is fucking dedicated. Not only that, but the Dust Devil is based on an actual African legend.

Well, this was the last feature that he ever did. His version of Island of Dr. Moreau was hijacked by Val Kilmer and he was fired, so don’t hold that shitty movie against him. That’s not what he was gonna make.