Cold In July

Jim Mickle's three films so far (Mulberry Street, Stake Land and We Are What We Are) have all been competent well directed efforts that no-one has bothered to see (though Stake Land has since been picked up on the cult circuit). Cold In July should raise his profile considerably, though it's clear he's had a battle to make a coherent film out of Joe R. Lansdale's novel. To say too much about the plot in this crime-thriller would be to spoil many of the twists, but the film begins with Richard Dane (Michael C. Hall) accidentally taking out an intruder in his home. Though no charges are bought against Dane, the intruder's father (a recently paroled convict played by Sam Shepard) begins to menacingly stalk Dane and his family. This though is just a jumping off point for a story that goes off in all sorts of unexpected directions, from a touch of comic relief with the excellent Don Johnson as a Southern P. I. (Billy Bob Luke, of course) to a moment where the plot diverts into highly disturbing snuff film territory. Six Feet Under and Dexter veteran Hall is believable as the average Joe, helping to banish the memories of most of his big screen career thus far (hello Gamer). However, this is all about Mickle's direction and a film that has more genre and tone shifts in any production you'll see outside of the South Korean market. Whether he succeeds or not depends on how well you can cope with the ever changing tempo's and rhythms as the film unfolds. Overall this is highly entertaining, though a couple of things do stick in the craw. First is that the film concludes with a cinematic standard which, though thrilling in parts (and artistic - look for the moment the screen becomes red filtered following the splashing of a lone light bulb in human claret) it seems too easy a wrapping up for the complexities that have informed the characters up until that point. Plus, comment must be made about the overbearing 1980's style synth score. Though faithful to the period the film is set, it's completely out of context with the content of the film itself and an unwelcome distraction throughout. Rating: 7/10.