If there ever was a film which deserved to be called HAUNTING - it's this one. Excellent music, wonderful dream-like atmosphere, masochistically-grim mood verging on nihilism, mystical overtones, a sympathetic supernatural yet human 'villain'... it's just wonderful. Disturbing gore, genuinely creepy scenes, the setting unlike anything you've ever seen before- this is one of the unsung, unknown masterpieces of the '90-ies (thinking/feeling man's)horror film at its best.

The titular Dust Devil is an evil demon that preys only on those who have lost the reason to live.This includes Wendy,who has broken up with her husband and is now making her way aimlessly across the South African desert.Feeling lonely,she picks up a stray by the name of Hitch and the nightmare begins...Richard Stanley's "Dust Devil" re-interprets the true story of a South African serial killer,known among locals as "Nhadiep".Bizarre ritualistic murders took place in the town of Bethany.The killer who inspired Dust Devil preyed on migrant workers and railways workers."Dust Devil" is a creepy and hypnotic horror film.Richard Stanley of "Hardware" fame relies on the magical elements of the legend of Nhadiep,invoking tribal rituals,witchcraft and Namibian mysticism.There is also a good amount of gore splashed on screen.The cinematography of Namibian desert is absolutely fantastic and there are some striking visuals.A must-see for horror enthusiasts!

Only this: check the Final Cut version and you'll discover that most of the flaws for which this movie is criticized are gone. With it's 30 minutes of footage previously cut and no re-dubbing,the story makes sense (of course, because of all the references to art-movies such as Jodorowsky's EL TOPO, some things are still left only to symbolic images)and it doesn't seems to switch to one register to another. Also this version isn't regraded, so the (very fine)cinematography by Steve Chivers (who also did HARDWARE) can really give the taste of a mix between western (Sergio Leone) and horror (I'd say Mario Bava: in a dream sequence, Zakes Mokae even moves as he's on a dolly!). Unfortunately this version isn't the original 2 hours-long cut that Stanly delivered, so some things are missing: for example, in the first murder scene (where, btw, the director has a cameo reflected in a mirror), the Dust Devil was supposed to cut the back of his victim, now instead he just reveals the knife. And some optical effects weren't added since poor Stanley's pocket (he largely produced this new version by himself!) wasn't so large to afford them. But, bypassing this details, the entire movie it's showed to you as the masterpiece it is.