Indie film writing and documentaries (1996–2019)
Stanley completed The Secret Glory – an examination of SS officer Otto Rahn's search for the Holy Grail – in 2001 and The White Darkness – a look at the voodoo practices in Haiti – in 2002. Following several festival screenings, both documentaries appeared in the Dust Devil DVD box-set, released by Subversive Cinema in 2006.
Stanley's cinematic efforts include a number of short films. Children of the Kingdom appeared in the short-film collection Europe – 99euro-films 2 in 2003. The science fiction story The Sea of Perdition premiered in October 2006 at the Festival de Cine de Sitges, and has since been made available online and on the 2009 Severin DVD release of Hardware. The werewolf short Black Tulips premiered online in September 2008.
Stanley was a contributing writer-director to the 2011 omnibus The Theatre Bizarre, with an adaptation of the short story "Mother of Toads" by Clark Ashton Smith.
In addition to directing, Stanley has continued working as a screenwriter. He co-wrote the script for Nacho Cerdà's feature debut The Abandoned (2006) and delivered the screenplay for Cerdà's upcoming comic book adaptation I Am Legion (2012). In addition, Stanley was a script collaborator on the Italian horror-thriller Imago Mortis (2009). Stanley also co-wrote an unmade film adaptation of J. G. Ballard's High Rise with director Vincenzo Natali.
Stanley launched the interactive website Terra Umbra – Empire of Shadows in October 2009, an ongoing inquiry into the invisible world and the hidden history of southern and central Europe. He also released the e-book Shadow of the Grail – Magic and Mystery at Montsegur in December 2010.
In early 2012, it was announced that Stanley would collaborate on the anthology film The Profane Exhibit. Stanley's contribution will be the short Coltan, which is described as "an unflinching look into darkest Africa."
