Richard Stanley(I)
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Richard Stanley is the award-winning South African-born filmmaker, who
made a name of himself with his first feature film, the sci-fi movie
Hardware (1990). A low budget movie about a mad-dog android loose in an
apartment was released in 1990. Critics slammed it as a Terminator
rip-off, yet the film became a financial success. The 1.5 million
dollar budget was paid back quite handsomely and continuation was
imminent.
In 1992, Stanley followed Hardware with Dust Devil (1992), a story based on the
myth of a Namibian serial killer. A fallout with the distributors led
to the re-cutting of the US version, while the bankruptcy of the
British-based production company Palace Pictures temporarily shut the
post-production down in Europe and the film remained mauled or
unfinished, depending how you look at it. Finally Stanley himself
managed to finance a new, restored print from the original negative,
which has later gained a cult following similar to Hardware.
His third feature was to be The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), an adaptation of the famed H.G.
Wells novel. Unfortunately it ended up a victim of creative disputes,
leading to him being sacked a few days after production began. The
finished film, released in 1996, carries little to no resemblance to
the version he was originally set to make, using only about two words
of his original script.
This, however, hasn't beaten the visionary filmmaker down and horror
movie fans are now waiting for him to come back... with a one mean
vengeance.
made a name of himself with his first feature film, the sci-fi movie
Hardware (1990). A low budget movie about a mad-dog android loose in an
apartment was released in 1990. Critics slammed it as a Terminator
rip-off, yet the film became a financial success. The 1.5 million
dollar budget was paid back quite handsomely and continuation was
imminent.
In 1992, Stanley followed Hardware with Dust Devil (1992), a story based on the
myth of a Namibian serial killer. A fallout with the distributors led
to the re-cutting of the US version, while the bankruptcy of the
British-based production company Palace Pictures temporarily shut the
post-production down in Europe and the film remained mauled or
unfinished, depending how you look at it. Finally Stanley himself
managed to finance a new, restored print from the original negative,
which has later gained a cult following similar to Hardware.
His third feature was to be The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), an adaptation of the famed H.G.
Wells novel. Unfortunately it ended up a victim of creative disputes,
leading to him being sacked a few days after production began. The
finished film, released in 1996, carries little to no resemblance to
the version he was originally set to make, using only about two words
of his original script.
This, however, hasn't beaten the visionary filmmaker down and horror
movie fans are now waiting for him to come back... with a one mean
vengeance.