Dust Devil 4K Review (Kino)

Dust Devil is a 1992 supernatural horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley (Hardware, Color Out of Space, The Theatre Bizarre, The Other World, and The Secret Glory). It was executive produced by Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein (The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Inglorious Bastards, The Mist, Grindhouse, Sin City franchise, Kill Bill, Halloween franchise, Scream franchise, Rounders, Good Will Hunting, Jackie Brown, Cop Land, Beautiful Girls, Pulp Fiction, True Romance, and Hardware). It had an estimated budget of £4,300,000. From out of the brutal heat of the endless desert comes the unknown stranger (played by: Robert John Burke from RoboCop 3, Tombstone, Cop Land, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, OZ, Rescue Me, and Thinner) arrives in a small town. His ancient and ruthless spirit has smelled the town dying and he needs to collect the souls to build his evil power. Soon the wasteland is littered with burned and disfigured remains. Ben Mukurob (played by: Zakes Mokae from The Serpent and the Rainbow, The Island, Cry Freedom, Vampire in Brooklyn, Waterworld, Body Parts, and Outbreak), the remaining cop in Bethany is faced with a mystery that threatens his eternal soul. Into this maelstrom of unbearable horror comes the confused Wendy Robinson (played by: Chelsea Field from Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, The Last Boy Scout, Commando, Death Spa, Prison, The Dark Half, and Masters of the Universe). She’s a young woman on the run from a broken marriage. Her flight has led her into the mysterious desert and perhaps into the arms of the sadistic Devil Himself!!!! Dust Devil is basically a supernatural version of The Hitcher and I’m all about it. The talented Richard Stanley delivers a visual nightmare here. The script takes the audience through hell and it shows not everyone is what they appear to be. Lead actor Robert John Burke has always been so underrated and this is definitely his best performance. He’s charming, menacing, and mysterious as the shape shifting Dust Devil. I like how they keep the character hidden and no one really knows what to expect. This deadly drifter knows pain and who wants to be done with it. He travels to the world to end it for them and it adds to his dangerous powers. Chelsea Field as Wendy Robinson gives a brave portrayal of a woman that’s trying to escape her disastrous life. She’s tough and she doesn’t care at this point. The sexy lead actress is not shy at all in this. Her character is very interesting. It had potential for a sequel. I know it was based in South Africa but she sounds so weird with that accent. It takes a little bit to get used to it. The underrated Zakes Mokae is basically the only cop left in his small town as Ben Mukurob. He is haunted by a troubled past, now he’s only focused on his work. He hunts down the unknown serial killer that’s been leaving nasty massacres everywhere that he goes. The rest of the supporting cast includes Rufus Swart (The House of Usher), John Matshikiza (Cry Freedom), William Hootkins (Batman), Terry Norton (From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money), Andre Odendaal (District 9), and Marianne Sägebrecht (The War of the Roses). This is probably a very controversial take but I thought the shorter Miramax version was much better than the extended director’s cut. It was around 20 minutes longer but ironically I felt like that was honestly 20 minutes too long because it really dragged at times. Yes, it had so much more character development and the Ben Mukurob character had a bigger role in it. I would suggest the shorter cut if you are viewing it for the very first time. It captures all of the great moments plus it has a way better flow to it. Don’t get me wrong, the director’s cut is still really good but I feel like the other one is more organic. It doesn’t bullshit at all and it gets straight to the point. None of the violence or sex is really edited for the theatrical so the audience still gets the best of Dust Devil with it. This is a perfect example when a feature just needs a sharper approach rather than a big backstory. This has a slasher vibe to it with it’s supernatural elements. The special fx and gruesome gore is top notch for this horror production. It has some excellent tension, suspense, and thrills as the main characters get deeper into this journey into hell. Visually, it’s one of the best from the 90’s and it’s haunting score adds to it’s unique atmosphere. Dust Devil is extremely underrated, it needs more attention and a chance because it’s a hidden gem with lots to offer. It’s a shame that a sequel wasn’t made because it had potential. This is a beautiful nightmare that needs to be witnessed, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss these high definition presentations and special features from Kino!!!! These 2160p.(1.85:1) transfers with Dolby Vision and HDR10 which includes the theatrical (88 minutes) and the uncensored extended director’s cut (188 minutes) from a brand new 4K restoration. Dust Devil looks amazing on this UHD upgrade, it hasn’t been released in the states since it’s 2007 DVD home video release from Subversive Cinema. Holy shit, it’s a massive improvement over that one and every other older version from the past. This 90’s horror is the perfect for this 4K treatment especially with it’s stylish cinematography, creative production design, isolated locations, and it’s disturbing special fx when it comes to the visuals. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks on the UHD. The creepy score from Simon Boswell (Phenomena, Demons 2, Lord of Illusions, Hackers, Hardware, Shallow Grave, and Santa Sangre) really stands out for Dust Devil. As it gets deeper, it gets more intense for it’s audio. All of the dialogue is crisp, the suspense is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. The only extra located on the 4K is the brand new “Audio Commentary” with director Richard Stanley and moderated by Norman Hill is only available on the extended director’s cut. Richard Stanley is always informative. He brings up his original lost versions before it got the full length version. He gets very detailed for his inside stories and personal information from the production. He goes over the cast, characters, experiences, backstory, motivations, the visuals, and overall production. He doesn’t hold back and he’s completely honest about his experience from Dust Devil. Lots of entertaining origin stories and how It got developed. He goes over it’s controversial release history and what happened to it after it was finished. He explains the reasons why a variety things happen in Dust Devil and they make much more sense now. There’s a good amount of scene by scene talk for this track. The blu ray disc includes the 36 minute “Dust Devil and Other Misadventures”. It’s an archive interview with filmmaker and writer Richard Stanley. He covers some of the same stuff as the commentary in this but there’s more than that for this interesting conversation. He chats about his beginnings and background. He gets very personal about growing up and inspirations. He mentions some of his earlier projects. He talks about how Dust Devil was created. It came from his dreams when he was younger. He goes over the original version that was a short and on a extremely low budget. He shares thoughts on his relationship with composer Simon Boswell. If you want to learn more about him, this is a nice start. It has the 11 minute “Original Storyboard”. It has the 2 minute “Original Polaroids”. It has 2 different “Trailers” for Dust Devil. It has a variety of Kino related “Trailers”. It comes with a slipcover, reversible artwork, and a blu ray copy. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!