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Richard Stanley's Early Films (Hardware & Dust Devil)

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Mighty_Emperor

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Although Richard Stanley gets mentioned in the Fields of the Nephilim thread (and he has written on haiti for FT I believe):

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12038

but I really like his first two films and so thought why not start a thread? They are both availble on DVD but can be tricky to get hold of.

Hardware

A great sci-fi film with some great cameos (like Cary McCoy as well as Iggy Pop, Lemmy, etc.). It gets slagged off at IMDB but it has been years since I saw it.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0099740/

It gets better reviews at Amazon (although it isn't available):

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000089792/

There is a DVD around but it isn't easy to find.

[edit: It is available via Xploitedcinema.com but isn't currently in stock:

www.xploitedcinema.com/dvds/dvds.asp?title=1252

see my reply for other availability.]

As an aside I once freaked all my friends out with a little stunt ispired by the pervert in the film. We were al heading back to a friend's house after the pub and I nipped off for a slash and found a bin bag full of children's shoes so I grabbed a dozen or so single shoes and stuffed them in my coat and then dumped them all my the table at my friend's house and refused to explain where I'd got them from.

Trivia: It was inspired by a 2000AD strip I believe.

Dust devil

It is a spooky film about a shapeshifting serial killer - great setting, etc. what intrigued me was its production history:

www.imdb.com/title/tt0104155/

as it was extremely monkeyed about with the the director's cut fixes most of the films problems. I have been looking around for the uncut film on DVD and eventually tracked it down here:

www.xploitedcinema.com/dvds/dvds.asp?title=1251

I haven't yet seen this but am awfully tempted to get it as I did enjoy the bastardised version ;)

Anyone seen the full cut?
 
Ah they are both available here:

www.fabpress.com/perl/search.pl?CO=DVD044

www.fabpress.com/perl/search.pl?CO=DVD031

The version of Hardware is the best available (they reckon) and it appears that is the full version of Dust Devil. Nice :)

Good overview of his work:
www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/04/32/r ... anley.html

His unofficial site:
www.everythingisundercontrol.org/nagtloper/

which has loads of stuff including details of the DVD releases:

www.everythingisundercontrol.org/nagtlo ... w_dvd.html

www.everythingisundercontrol.org/nagtlo ... d_dvd.html
 
I'd rather not display my ignorance by attempting to link multiple threads (you smartass, Emps, you!) but I'd like to add my support to the film Hardware. Understated, well-considered and scary film ala cyberpunk and with a great music score.

Jolly good. Jolly, jolly good!
 
Loved Hardware, in particular the most realistic portrayal of the, "we're screwed and are about to be killed in a horrendous fashion" response I've seen in many a film. (If you've seen it, you know what I mean.)
 
Two excellent films. I had high hopes for Stanley going on to be a well known director, but he doesn't seem to have done much since he got shafted over Dr. Moreau. :(
 
I've now had a chance to watch both DVDs (I got them from Xploited, meaning they were the German versiosn, as I ccouldn't get the FAB site to work - after some consultation with them it appears you have to use Internet Explorer and go via their main page to "activate" your shopping cart - a system that really needs sorting out) and I was impressed by them both.

Hardware still works at least as long as they don't linger too long on the whole robot which does show its age. You can also tell he has also made musi videos as he does tend to bombard you with imagery. It has aged but not as badl as other low budget sci fi films of the era. However, I might also be bringing a big dose of nostalgia to it but they do have some distrubing scenes and some well done gore and it has some good tension and scares so.....

Dust Devil could easily be released tomorrow and stands up well (although the makeup to make him look demonic was probably a bad idea even then - it would have worked better if they'd kept him looking human). The Namibian landscape is, as you'd imagine, breathtaking and wonderfully shot and acts as good counterpoint to the violence and gore. If you are looking for a good spooky film (with plenty of Fortean aspects: demons, magic, muti, phantom hitchhikers, etc) then give this a go.

Anyway I haven't see either film for a decade or more and I was impressed by how they stood the test of time - the latter far more than the former. The DVD extras are a little thin (including on Hardware the scenes that were removed from the German release but which are included in the main film).
 
Mr. R.I.N.G. said:
Info about both films and his version of Dr. Moreau:

http://www.sexandgutsmagazine.com/secret_glory_of_richard_stanley.htm
Click to expand...

The link is dead and actually points to site with soem rather dodgy sex related links so here is a cached version of that (as it is important):

The Secret Glory of Richard Stanley

By Lauri Löytökoski

Visit Between Death and the Devil:
http://www.walkingman.ht.st

I remember the time when The Island of Dr. Moreau came out. The esteemed actor Marlon Brando and the mediocre Val Kilmer turned a new leaf in terms of decadence on screen. Unfortunately, it was painfully obvious in how wrong a sense it was. Decadence, as in after being given the keys to the kingdom, two celebrities ripping the scenery in half, trying figure out ways to out-do the other one's bloated parody of character acting. I read about director John Frankenheimer being bashed for pulling off hack-works such as this in his old days, as the critics joined him to the wild bunch of people gone insane on the set. Finally, I heard a rumor of an original director being fired and having returned to the set incognito. It was the first time I heard about Richard Stanley.

My interest arose. Having always been a strong supporter for auteurs, I resent being given a work of a committee rather than an individual. Highly budgeted mainstream films with 30 or so screenwriters are at best entertainment at its lowest form, and are as far from art as possible. And cinema is certainly an art form, though ever so often downplayed by the color of money and the needs and demographics of mass audiences. Richard Stanley spoke to me as an artist, a brave man refusing to bend over in front of the petty egos of some Hollywood powerplayers. All I know of the local industry is from a spectator's point of view, but you don't have to be a cineaste to realize something like that takes balls.

All I needed to know now was... everything. EVERYTHING. What happened on the set during those four days when Stanley was helming Moreau, where did he come from, and most importantly, where was he going to now. I knew all this would eventually sum up to an absolute truth, and while it wouldn't necessarily make me feel any better, it would bring closure. I went back in time, starting with Hardware, Stanley's first feature film. Things turned out to be more difficult than I thought. Getting a copy wasn't easy in itself, but understanding the film was a struggle. Having seen Moreau, I expected something like "Die Hard" with a robot. Little did I know. The film originally presented itself as an utter mess, having everything from peeping toms to mad drug trips with Mötorhead and Stabat Mater booming in the background. I felt conned. A thinking man's sci-fi piece, which spat me on the face saying I was too dumb to get it. It would've been so easy to join the Contra-Hardware bandwagon, since the film had spawned some intense opinions over the years. But how can you can ignore a film which almost equally splits its audience in two, the lovers and the haters?

Hardware did a very strange thing to me. I had to rewatch it several times, something I never do with a film I hate. And behold, every time I enjoyed it more. Gradually the film revealed itself to me, working its way under my skin. What was initially considered a mess became more of a puzzle. Being so heavily loaded on symbolism and detail, Hardware requires an open mind - or a hefty amount of pondering if you miss its point. Finally one night, it all came very clear. Hardware WAS worth all the praise of dealing with spirituality, the thing that redeems a man from his flesh and prevails against the physically superior machine. The stance taken on science prevailing religion (and vice versa) is almost unique in the science-fiction genre, where dealing with high-tech machinery too often goes into hyping the special effects. In the film, our basic humanity is taken away from us one by one, with the protagonist Mo already being half the man he once was, having a mechanical arm. The government's new population control bill is all for controlling the basic human need for procreation. Our best solution is what we are endangered of becoming - an emotionless killing machine.

I thought, "Damn, this guy is GOOD!" and went in search of his sophomore effort, Dust Devil. I learned that this is where things began to go wrong for Mr. Stanley. Dust Devil was cut for half an hour or so prior to its release, and the full-length version was released only in England. Getting my hands on it proved to be even more enduring, but I had gone too far to call it a day now. When I finally saw the film, I was blown away. Outwardly a spaghetti western with horror elements, Dust Devil offered an ambitious, intelligent take on the basic questions of life and death. A recurring theme from Hardware was the effect of science to our view of the world. In Dust Devil, which is set closer to the present day than Hardware, science is pushing away magic. How could one honestly believe that the Namibian deserts cover a demonic serial killer, who in fact is concentrated wind? Yet, we can never hope to cut ourselves from our dependence to the Great Beyond as long as science fails us in explaining where dreams, memories and thoughts come from. As the Devil himself, they come from the other side of the mirror. Stanley also again ponders the connection and opposition of flesh and mind. A man is always tied to his body, yet completely controls only a small percentage of it. The Dust Devil feels the mind is trapped inside the flesh and only by releasing it can one manifest into his full potential. He takes this quest very personally, being in a human body himself until having killed enough times. When the mind is prepared, when you give up on life and lose all hope, the Dust Devils come for you. Reversed midwives: for death is birth.

Having said all this, I realize a bit better why Stanley wanted to take on the H.G. Wells novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau. The mind and the flesh, religion and science. All this clashes intensely in the story, making it a very fertile and attractive opportunity for someone who has keen interest on those opposites tied together. And when the aforementioned opposites are perhaps the biggest issues of all time, Richard Stanley is a filmmaker who has a lot to give to a lot of people. Unfortunately, that makes his inconceivably bad luck in the film industry even more tragic. Hardware is overlooked, Dust Devil is underseen and The Island of Dr. Moreau is butchered. The good thing is that all this bureaucracy and bullshit hasn't made Stanley give up on us. I only hope he manages to complete at least one more feature film, which would not only bring him some greatly deserved recognition, but would also help his whole body of work become more widely available.

The world doesn't want filmmakers like Richard Stanley, it needs them.
Click to expand...

Source
 
I don't know if it's still out there, and I forget if I saw it on the 'net or in some movie magazine a few years back, there was quite an in depth synopsis of Stanley's original script to Dr Moreau that was published - he had some very very interesting ideas and places to go with it, blurring the lines between the literal and metaphorical elements of the story.

Doubt any of that made it's way into the final film, still too disgusted over what happened and what I've heard of it to be bothered giving it the pain of perusal.
 
Hardware was indeed inspired by a 2000ad strip called (I think) "Shok". It was in one of the annuals (the first Judge Dredd annual, IIRC) and drawn by the peerless Kevin O'Neill (who also did Marshal Law and The League Of Extraordianary Gentlemen). If memory serves, Richardl Stanley claimed the inspiration for it came to him "in a dream"... but understandably, 2000ad weren't buying that and I think there's an acknowledgement in the credits at the end of the film.

When the film came out I was at college, and our film lecturer was mates with someone connected to the film. The second unit director came and gave us a talk. He was pretty scathing in his opinion of the leading actor, describing him as something that rhymes with 'anchor' a few times.

I've done a google and the original Shok strip on www.2000adonline.com somewhere, but you have to register (well worth it, mind).
 
zygmunt said:
Hardware was indeed inspired by a 2000ad strip called (I think) "Shok". It was in one of the annuals (the first Judge Dredd annual, IIRC) and drawn by the peerless Kevin O'Neill (who also did Marshal Law and The League Of Extraordianary Gentlemen). If memory serves, Richardl Stanley claimed the inspiration for it came to him "in a dream"... but understandably, 2000ad weren't buying that and I think there's an acknowledgement in the credits at the end of the film.

When the film came out I was at college, and our film lecturer was mates with someone connected to the film. The second unit director came and gave us a talk. He was pretty scathing in his opinion of the leading actor, describing him as something that rhymes with 'anchor' a few times.

I've done a google and the original Shok strip on www.2000adonline.com somewhere, but you have to register (well worth it, mind).
Click to expand...

Of course if you have the original...... ;)

Thanks for the tip - it is in the 1981 Judge Dredd annual page 82-88. It is an impressively effective tale even today and Kevin O'Neill's work is awesome!!!
 
You naughty rubbish! Get back inside this minute! LOL

I'd forgotten how bad that stuff was, still, I can remember plenty of 2000AD strips scaring me sh*tless when I was about 10:D Don't recall this one but it certainly would have.

For some reason I'd always assumed this was one of Tharg's Future Shocks, some of those were pretty freaky.
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
For some reason I'd always assumed this was one of Tharg's Future Shocks, some of those were pretty freaky.
Click to expand...

Yes Walter's Wobot Tales had somehow been blanked from my mind ;)
 
I think I saw the full Version of Dust Devil on Channel 4 a while ago. It was one of those late night things introduced by Mark Kermode.

I think it's one of the best horror movies I've every seen. Chilling but with genuine warmth.
 
Well I never!! It appears that Dust Devil will be given the release it finally deserves:

February 24: DUST DEVIL director’s cut and more on DVD

Fango got the scoop from Subversive Cinema about a bunch of its upcoming DVDs. Most notably, the company has made a deal with Richard Stanley’s Shadow Theatre Films to release the long-awaited definitive director’s-cut edition of Stanley’s 1992 chiller DUST DEVIL. This release will be titled DUST DEVIL: THE FINAL CUT and is tentatively scheduled to street September 26; it hasn’t been determined how many discs it’ll be, but the feature will be accompanied by three Stanley documentaries (THE WHITE DARKNESS, THE SECRET GLORY and VOICE OF THE MOON), and all four will have commentaries by the director. In addition, there will be never-before-seen deleted scenes from the original workprint, and likely still more supplements.
Click to expand...

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5663

It might just be a blip but this could be a good thing for him - lets hope it shows thigs are turning a corner again.
 
zygmunt_rocks_on said:
Hardware was indeed inspired by a 2000ad strip called (I think) "Shok". It was in one of the annuals (the first Judge Dredd annual, IIRC) and drawn by the peerless Kevin O'Neill (who also did Marshal Law and The League Of Extraordianary Gentlemen). If memory serves, Richardl Stanley claimed the inspiration for it came to him "in a dream"... but understandably, 2000ad weren't buying that and I think there's an acknowledgement in the credits at the end of the film.

When the film came out I was at college, and our film lecturer was mates with someone connected to the film. The second unit director came and gave us a talk. He was pretty scathing in his opinion of the leading actor, describing him as something that rhymes with 'anchor' a few times.

I've done a google and the original Shok strip on www.2000adonline.com somewhere, but you have to register (well worth it, mind).
Click to expand...

More details:

Hardware (1990)

Directed by Richard Stanley.

Although not originally intended to be a 2000AD film, a court ruled that the story was significantly based on Shok (Judge Dredd Annual 1981, reprinted in prog 612). Steve McManus and Kevin O'Neill were added to Hardware's writing credits.
Click to expand...

www.2000adonline.com/?zone=spinoff&page=films

Direct link (although you have to be registered to read it - its free:
www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page= ... hoice=shok
 
More on the Dust Devil release:

The DUST DEVIL three-disc edition (coming September 26) will showcase a new high-definition 16x9 widescreen transfer of writer/director Richard Stanley’s authorized FINAL CUT of his African-set mythological horror film, only previously issued in the U.S. on VHS in truncated form. Also included will be Stanley’s documentaries SECRET GLORY, THE WHITE DARKNESS and VOICE OF THE MOON; all four will have the director’s commentary (both this and the transfer are different from those on the previous British DVD), and there’ll be featurettes, deleted scenes, interviews, a still gallery and cast/crew biographies. Retail price on this one is also $29.95.
Click to expand...

www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=6354
 
The Final Cut version is now availible to buy on import.

The 5-disc Limited Edition comes with 2 versions of Dust Devil - An incredibly colourful "final cut" and a longer workprint. Plus 3 documentaries including The White Darkness (a shorter version of the FT article is reprinted in the booklet.)

I'm about half-way through this fascinating set... The behind-the-scenes for Voice of the Moon is more interesting than the actual doc, as we hear about Richard journey through Afghanistan, finding himself in a middle of war, and having a missle nearly killing him and his camera man which spelt the end of the doc.

Elsewhere we learn which musicians were going to be in Hardware before Iggy Pop and Lemmy - Lemmy btw was paid only with a bottle of Jack Daniels which he "polished off entirely before he got on set."

For Dust Devil we learn he previously shot a 45-minute 16mm version, featuring Fields of the Nephlim "doing Morricone covers"... which unfortunetly, his girlfriend sold off his only copy!
 
It is also worth mentioning that his Wikipedia entry gives another film as being in the works called Vacation and being filmed in the Canary Islands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_St ... irector%29

There is another film he wrote called Stray which isn't it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464220/

I wonder if Sea of Perdition is the taster for it? There are suggestions at the end that this was only the start. Also it was filmed in Iceland and if you wanted somewhere else that would look like Mars then the Canary Islands might be it. It is also co-written with the guy who wrote the SoP script. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
I wonder if Sea of Perdition is the taster for it? There are suggestions at the end that this was only the start.
Click to expand...

It also begins with the words "Episode VII" - so I'm guessing this is more of a Star Wars inspired joke?

Would be great to see him do a full-length sci-fi like this though.
 
Although I'd love to see another dark dirty near future flick that has made me really want to see him try some kind of outthere, trippy, Lem-like film.
 
Cheers - I was watching White Darkness last night, which he references in this new one, "I spent some time in Haiti..." :)
 
Richard Stanley launches new website, film projects

Richard Stanley, director of the highly regarded horror features HARDWARE and DUST DEVIL, has taken his second career as a cultural anthopologist to the Internet. He went live recently with a new website called Terra Umbra—Empire of Shadows, which delves into “the mysteries behind the material that inspired such authors as Dan Brown, Kate Mosse, Philip K. Dick, H.P. Lovecraft, Trevor Ravenscroft, Jules Verne and Otto Rahn.”

Featuring exclusive video interviews and hundreds of photographs, the site, which you can access here, “combines historical research with ongoing exploration into the direct experience of the mysteries.” Terra Umbra also has a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, a Twitter feed and a blog, so check ’em all out, and see a video preview below.

As for his film project, he’s still gearing up to shoot his apocalyptic thriller VACATION, with a start date currently targeted for this spring. He’s also busy writing a pair of scripts—one of which, Fango has learned, is a samurai epic for Japanese director Takashi Miike! We’ll let you know more about all these as further details come in.
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FANGORIA BLOG with links
 
Here's Richard Stanley's latest documentary -

L’AUTRE MONDE ("The Otherworld")

Hidden deep in the south of France, practically untouched by the modern age, is a place known by many as “the Zone”. In this space, which encompasses Montsegur (site of the Cathar genocide and a place where portals into the past and ghostly apparitions are commonplace), Rennes-Le-Chateau (where a priest was reputed to have struck a deal with dark forces, an enormous fortress of secrets and treasures, among which might be the burial place of the actual Holy Grail) and Bugarach (a superforce draw for doomsday cults and the site of a mountain known to be harbouring alien vessels), the supernatural is an everyday reality of life. Magic is everywhere. It is reason. It is currency. It is unquestionable fact.

Prepare yourself for a journey into life on the other side of the mirror. Legendary filmmaker Richard Stanley (HARDWARE, DUST DEVIL, THE THEATRE BIZARRE, as well as a string of stunning documentaries) has never been under spoken about his studies in mysticism and the occult. A trained anthropologist whose brain glows with secret knowledge and forgotten histories, Stanley has spent decades exploring the literal fantastic.

In 2009, after having regularly visited the area for over 20 years, he took up permanent residence in the village of Montsegur. The experiences that Stanley has had there, the people he has grown to understand and the astounding possibilities behind what he has learned compelled him to make this film, to show the outside world a little bit of what’s going on in the Zone. It is a visually dazzling work, and a deeply fascinating one. It takes you into haunted places, sits you down with sorcerers, scholars and lunatics, and brings you sights that few of this world have seen. Most importantly, it’s 90 minutes in the company of some of the most unusual and compelling personalities you could hope to meet. Through their testimonials and endeavors, we are afforded a rare glimpse, not only into supernatural forces, but the myriad ways that humankind struggles with understanding them.

Shot by Karim Hussain, edited by Patrick Tremblay, and scored by the great Simon Boswell, L’AUTRE MONDE is the spellbinding — and often very funny — result of 22 years of occult study in the region, It is truly a film that only Richard Stanley could have made. An unforgettable voyage into the otherworld awaits you.
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http://fantasiafestival.com/2013/en/fil ... utre-monde

Trailer at link - looks pretty stunning.
 
Hardware director Richard Stanley to adapt H.P. Lovecraft story
Indie-horror company SpectreVision has confirmed that it will produce Richard Stanley’s new film, Color Out of Space, his first movie since 1992’s Dust Devil. The film is an adaptation of famed “weird” author H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, “The Colour Out of Space,” about a meteorite that drives people insane. Stanley will direct and pen the screenplay for the project, which he has been working on for several years. “There needs to be a scary Lovecraft movie,” Stanley said last year. “I want to make a bad trip film and ‘The Colour…’ definitely has what it takes to be a very, very bad trip indeed.”
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http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/23/richard-stanley-color-out-space-moreau
 
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