my Movie

Movie Details

Title:   Dust Devil
Director:   Richard Stanley
Year:   1992
Genre:   Psychological Thriller
Times Seen:   1
Last Seen:   04.28.07

Other Movies Seen By This Director (2)
- Color Out of Space
- Hardware

Notes History
Date Viewed Venue Note
04.28.07Netflix This has been in my queue for a long time. I remember seeing commercials for Hardware but it never came out in a theater where I lived (probably due to the whole ratings thing) so it was like the number one most anticipated video release of the year for me, and I loved the shit out of that movie. It was post-apocalyptic and stylized and perverse and artsy and there was Ministry music and Iggy Pop played a radio DJ and there was a killer robot and a guy got cut in half. I still know Dylan McDermott not as the guy from The Practice or Clint Eastwood's partner in In the Line of Fire but as the metal-handed guy from Hardware. But other than that, I'd heard the director was fired from the Dr. Moreau remake and not much else.

Enter this serial killer movie set in Namibia. It's really weird and arty and red and desert-y but also slow and meandering and aimless and kind of a mess. I like all the elements but get a feeling like they don't quite come together. I can definitely see Harvey Weinstein seeing the first cut of this movie and breaking into a cold sweat.

There are some interesting things here, soe interesting visuals (and I like the lead actor, Robert Burke (he's on Rescue Me and was on Oz but was also in Good Night and Good Luck. He usually plays a take-no-shit tough guy). In the commentary, Stanley also pointed out that the big guy playing the police captain is the same guy who played the peeping tom neighbor in Hardware and Red Six in Star Wars. I so couldn't believe it that I looked him up and found that he was also Major Eaton in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Eckhart in Burton's Batman movie! That's crazy! William Hootkins.

anyway, glad I finally saw this, but think Richard Stanley may end up being a case where I only like one of his movies. he seems like a really intense and weird guy. I checked out his Sea of Perdition short online and it was really... enigmatic. Not sure I go so much for such things. I've been meaning to revisit Hardware though (got it all lined up as a double feature with Death machine (which also has William Hootkins in it!)) so maybe it's just a case of nostalgia driving my love in the first place. who knows...