Bloodtype Online

    Be warned that my plot synopsis is going to be sort of confusing because I found the movie itself to be a bit confusing.  Please do read on though because it is worth it.  To really understand much of the plot you need to understand where the movie is set.  Dust Devil takes place in or near South Africa during the time that apartheid was ending, so there is an underlying current of racial tension that runs throughout the movie.  Now the movie tells the story of a shape shifting spirit that the locals call the Dust Devil.  This spirit travels lonely stretches of highway searching for those who have lost everything that matters to them.  The Dust Devil searches out these people so that it can kill them because they were ready to die and have nothing else to live for.   It is never really explained whether the spirit believes that it is doing good by killing this or evil.  After seeing the Dust Devil, in the guise of an attractive man, do away with a woman we are introduced to the other main characters of the film.  An unhappy woman named Wendy and her husband Mark whom we see her leaving her husband and miserable suburban life to go find the sea. We are also introduced to a policeman named Ben, who is black, in charge of investigating the murder of the first woman.  Of course Wendy meets up with the Dust Devil who she picks up along the road, but he doesn’t kill her right away because, as we find out later, he gets lonely sometimes.  So while we are treated to Wendy and the Dust Devil driving and talking and well other things (she did just dump her husband!) the policeman begins to understand what is happening.  Over the course of his investigation Ben, the policeman, meets up with a shaman who explains that the killing is the work of a Dust Devil and that he must destroy him in a certain way to prevent the Dust Devil from simply taking possession of another body.  It is important to mention here that Ben had lost a son to a racially motivated conflict and that his wife left him because she blamed him for the loss of their son.  Thru a series of events Mark and Ben end up together in pursuing Wendy and the Dust Devil.  Of course then ends up with a final conflict between the characters with a twist ending that is honestly pretty obvious.   

    This is a really difficult movie for me to review because there were ample reasons for me to hate this movie but yet I found myself enjoying it.  I’ll start off with the negatives.  The script is a complete mess with plot holes, characters that appear and then disappear for no reason, and leaps of logic that will have you scratching your head.  When I finished watching this movie I felt a bit cheated as if there were supposed to be more.  They kept hinting about a storyline involving the policeman Ben that possibly touched upon racial issues.  Whether it had to do with the untimely death of his son or why he was unceremoniously pulled from the case of the first death.   Perhaps that could of also explained the character of the shaman who appears quite suddenly gives the required information about the Dust Devil and then disappears just as quickly.  It seems that these two characters may have a history (why else would Ben believe him so quickly?) but nothing is said or explained.  Then at one point in the movie Ben finds the husband in jail and sets him free so that he can help him search for Wendy and the Dust Devil only to abandon him when they get close.  Be aware that other than maybe a vague flashback Ben has no idea who Wendy or Mark are or their connection to the Dust Devil.  

    Let me tell you what Dust Devil has going for it.  This movie looks unlike any other horror film that I’ve ever seen.  The camera work and cinematography are amazing and will blow you away.  The majority of the movie is set in the desert, which allows the filmmakers to create a sense of isolation thru the camera that works so well in telling the story.  For example there are a couple of scenes that were clearly shot from the air where the camera pulls back showing the vastness of the surrounding terrain and how small the characters are on it.  This fits so nicely with what the movie is trying to convey at that time that I actually felt many of the same emotions that the characters were dealing with.  In many of the more intimate scenes the camera is placed at odd angles which give just the slightest sense of something being wrong or “off” about the situation.  The camera is a very powerful tool in telling a story and in the hands of someone who is skilled it can be just as important as any of the characters are.  I can’t think of a better example of this than Dust Devil, which makes the films obvious flaws all the more frustrating.   

    So we have a movie with amazing camera work.  We have a cast that, based upon the other work I’ve seen them do, that is very skilled and talented.  This should have been a classic film that not only horror fans but everyone should love.  Unfortunately there wasn’t much of a story and what they did have was lost in a confusing narrative that will easily lose the casual viewer.  Dust Devil is a classic example of all style and no substance.  In spite of this I have to recommend that this movie is worth at least a rental and to anyone who enjoys an interesting visual experience may want to own it! 

Rating - **1/2

John "El Juan" Shatzer