Cinema
Dust Devil
Richard Stanley · 1992
Synopsis
At the end of Namibia's war of independence, a sangoma, Joe Niemand, tells the legend of the desert demons who change shape and hunt humans along the roads. One of them, in the guise of a hitchhiker, kills a woman who has picked him up and burns down her house. In Bethanie, Sergeant Ben Mukurob investigates these murders strewn with strange symbols. Wendy Robinson, who has left her husband in Johannesburg, gives the stranger a lift and gradually discovers his powers, while Mukurob, guided by the sangoma, follows their trail.
Context
The director drew the film from an unfinished short made in 1984, inspired by unexplained murders and by the legend of Nhadiep. Filming took place entirely in Namibia, on a budget of 2.8 million pounds raised by the producer JoAnne Sellar. The film then circulated in cuts of various lengths, Miramax's American version having lost some twenty minutes; Stanley himself financed a cut conforming to his wishes, running 108 minutes, which appeared in a DVD box set in 2006.
Who it is for
A horror film in English with carefully made desert imagery; the director's cut, at 108 minutes, is preferable to the shortened versions.
Prizes and reception
Divided reception: Kim Newman, in Sight & Sound, regarded it as a remarkable film, while others judged it too long and pretentious.