Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

Richard Stanley had a vision. New Line Cinema had cold feet, a sharp knife and a clear view of Stanley’s back. Like frightened animals they struck.
The usurped writer/director is surprisingly calm about the whole affair, perhaps due to time having scabbed over the wounds. He gives viewers access to the amazing pre-production art and storyboards he’d commissioned, on-set photos of the brief time he’d had in the director’s chair and airs his view on some of the disasters that befall the production.
The doc shifts focus for a long time after the middle section, becoming more like a DVD extra about the making of the actual Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) film that did eventually get made with a new director.
There's no guarantee that Stanley's would've been better, but given how visually spellbinding his past films were it sure as hell would've been a lot more interesting to look at and very likely more thought-provoking.

3½ Hollywood hyenas out of 5

Hardware (1990)

I wanted to like Hardware more than I actually did because you can feel the love that was put into it as you watch it. Dir. Richard Stanley borrows a lot from Ridley Scott, but at least he’d the good sense to take from the two best films Ridley ever made. Visually it’s like Blade Runner (1982) with a less expansive focus. It takes place in close quarters with a creature that’s suitably menacing; a situation clearly inspired by Alien (1979).
What set it apart from Ridley’s cold, clinical style was the trademark Stanley mysticism and the feeling that despite the reliance on technology the spiritual can never be fully conquered.
Even though I felt that it could've been something special but wasn't, I'd still definitely recommend it to fans of cult cinema.

3 red skies out of 5

THE THEATRE BIZARRE [2011]

Horror film anthologies have a tendency to be real hit & miss with each segment and the 6-part The Theatre Bizarre is no exception.  

Inspired by the concept of the terrifying Grand Guignol theatre that frames the individual stories, it's hosted by the always creepsome Udo Kier and is actually quite effective.  Then we go into the first segement which is atrociously terrible, followed by 2, 3 & 4 which are painfully predictable but serviceable and followed by the unique, gruesome and twisted 5 & 6th segments which couldn't have come sooner.  

2½ cocks for breakfast out of 5

Dust Devil: The Director’s Cut (1993)

DD is an amazing film, hampered only by acting worse than a British soap opera. It feels like a Western, although it’s set in South Africa. Some imaginative and expressively seductive use of filters and lighting give it a reality that feels like a drug-induced spirit journey, like it was birthed from the union of a Clive Barker short and a Ray Bradbury nightmare.
The director's commentary adds so much more to the symbolism, so if you have the time and enjoy those kinds of things then it's worth your time.
The film exists in a number of different versions of varying lengths. Mine was the Optimum release, running 104 mins.

4 severed fingers out of 5