Richard Stanley is a renowned South African-born filmmaker, who made a name for himself with his debut feature film, the science fiction movie Hardware (1990). This low-budget film, which tells the story of a rogue android loose in an apartment, was released in 1990 and, despite being criticized as a Terminator rip-off, became a financial success, recouping its 1.5 million dollar budget and paving the way for a sequel.
In 1992, Stanley followed up Hardware with Dust Devil (1992),a film based on the myth of a Namibian serial killer. However, a dispute with the distributors led to the re-cutting of the US version, while the bankruptcy of the British-based production company Palace Pictures temporarily halted post-production in Europe, leaving the film in a state of disarray.
Despite these challenges, Stanley was able to finance a new, restored print of the film from the original negative, which has since gained a cult following similar to Hardware.
Stanley's third feature was intended to be an adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). Unfortunately, the project was plagued by creative disputes, leading to Stanley being fired just days into production. The finished film, released in 1996, bears little resemblance to the version Stanley had envisioned, with only a few words of his original script remaining.
Despite these setbacks, Stanley remains a visionary filmmaker, and horror fans are eagerly awaiting his return to the genre, with a promise of a mean and vengeful vengeance.
