Cold In July ****

Horror director Jim Mickle (We Are What We Are) has done the near impossible with his latest flick, Cold In July, and turned the usual home-violation thriller into a fresh revenge movie with tangible emotion. No one is prepared for where the plot veers, even though one of its stars, Dexter actor Michael C. Hall is expected to employ those TV serial killer skills against the guilty when his young family is under threat.

This alone would have made a half decent thriller with Hall cast in the lead, but Mickle goes one stage further. In addition to all the menace hanging in the air like a thick fog, the film has the most catchy 80s soundtrack heard in a long time and is full of humorous 80s gimmicks that seem to settle events like a light-hearted breather before the characters deal with the next evil in their path to justice.

Hall plays mullet-wearing Richard Dane, a local businessman and father whose family experiences a break-in one night, resulting in the culprit being shot dead by Dane. However, it’s quickly discovered that the intruder was unarmed and is being written off to be someone else the police want to finger. Added to which, the supposed father of the dead man, Russel (Sam Shepard), begins to stalk the family, resulting in police protection at home. However, nothing is what it seems as Dane soon discovers mob links to the local police as they try to frame Russel, leading to a far more uglier truth being uncovered with the help of flamboyant investigator and Russel’s old acquaintance Jim Bow (Don Johnson).

It’s hard to do this film the justice it deserves without ruining the surprise twists and turns and curveballs it has to offer. Although there is an eerie malice at play, the company of the three unlikely compadres, Dane, Russel and Bow is somewhat appeasing as they bring justice to something far more sinister at play. In the downtime, we get an insight into what makes each man tick, resulting in the age-old saying of ‘never (ever) judge a book by its cover’, something that Mickle has toyed with in making this. This keeps the status quo sumptuously unique, sprinkled with a bit of humour and shock brutality.

Cold In July, like a retro western in mentality, challenges our rights from wrongs about what should/would be done in a similar situation, engaging us further. It’s like peeling back an onion – it pains you as each layer is exposed, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth but a tear in the eye as to how tragic things can get. There is also a sense of uneven ground as the usual authoritative avenues are not available, so the job lies in unfamiliar hands to deal with the fallout.

The casting is simply pitch-perfect, as is the acting, with Hall, Shepard and Johnson playing off each other, all very different screen characters but whose personalities just gel as they share a common purpose. For this reason alone, as well as a fresh plot and cracking soundtrack, Cold In July is well worth a view and will prove surprisingly memorable and very satisfying a long time afterwards.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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