Cold in July is the fourth and best cinematic offering from director Jim Mickle and his regular co-writer Frank Damici. Their previous works, particularly the apocalyptic Stake Land and the bizarrely touching We Are What We Are, hinted strongly that this was a creative pair on the ascendant, and Cold in July is the film where everything comes together.
Based on the novel by genre bending Joe R. Lansdale (you might know his work from other adaptations such as Bubba Ho-Tep and the Masters of Horror episode, Incident On and Off a Mountain Road) Cold in July is astoundingly faithful to the spirit of its source material. Set in 1989, this is a film that oozes ‘80s cinematic nostalgia from its synth score to its subdued neo-noir pacing.
Near the end of the review Jones makes mention of a forthcoming Mickle-Lansdale project.
Mickle recently announced that he was developing Lansdale’s Hap Collins and Leonard Pine novels for television. If that series is as well-crafted and as respectful to the books as Cold in July, then we’re all in for a Southern fried treat.
In conjunction with the series, next year Tachyon is publishing the first ever collection of the shorter Hap and Leonard stories.
Cold in Julythe movie, starring Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Sam Shepard (Black Hawk Down), and Don Johnson (Miami Vice), is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
