 |
Dust Devil |
|
|
  |
| Use the darkbrown scrollbar to the right to scroll down for the review. |
A demon,
trapped inside a man's body, is looking
for a way out to the spiritual level. Could
sacrificing a woman, who've just ran away from
an unhappy marriage, be the solution?
There was a lot of fuzz going on with this
South African-British little horror thriller.
Director Richard Stanley presented US
distributors Miramax a 120 min version which
they didn't like and cut it down to 86 min
(removing a lot of important key details in the
plot). Stanley managed to get a 95 min version
released, but the film was cut into different
versions of different countries. At the end
Stanley cut it in his won way with own money.
And when you see the finished film, you kind
of wonder what the fuzz was all about...
The movie has a pretty interesting premise but
Stanley refuses to do it in a audience-pleasing
style. The movie is filled with poetic
voice-over monologue, pretentious symbolism and
flashy photography. Maybe Stanley wants us to
feel that the main plot is something covering
for a much bigger, perhaps religious background
but the whole thing just becomes heavy-handed
and dull. How much Stanley even tries the film
is still just about a demon and its intended
victim, and even turns into a psycho-stalker
film at times when our villain is stalking the
heroine through both fire and desert storms.
Luckily, it has its great moments. The cast is
wonderful, playing it with seriousness and
sensitivity, without getting campy. Robert
John Burke (in an early, hunk-ish sort of
character), as the title figure, is a spooky
but still likable monster. Chelsea Field works
fine as the heroine, and Zakes Mokae is
excellent (in a for him rare leading role) as
a detective on the case - a character a little
deeper and more developed than
the usual stereotype.
Though Stanley's attempts seem a bit
over-ambitious, he sure can deliver a slick,
well-made film. At slow parts (which are a few...)
the film is still nice to look at, and the
combination of dazzling, colourful pictures and
strong, intense acting makes the film hold
together pretty nicely even if you really don't
care about the plot. It's way too long though
and at the drawn-out climax you really wish for
someone to die so the closing credits can
finish it off.
Not much, but some blood splatter and an
awesome shooting-a-head-into-pieces effect.
Moody score by Simon Boswell (who composed
music for Santa Sangre, Lord of Illusions,
and several Italian horror films by both Dario
Argento and Lamberto Bava).
Slick, well-made is at times dull and
heavy-handed because of director's attempt at
making something symbolic and poetic but a
great cast make up for the lulls.
Review By: Slicer-Dicer
 |
 |
 |
 |