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Cold in July is set in East Texas, 1989, and while that part of the world still has the delights of Bros and Stock Aitken And Waterman to encounter, Richard Dane (Michael C Hall) finds an intruder in his house, after being woken up by wife Ann (Vinessa Shaw), who was previously woken up by something being smashed. By accident, he shoots and kills the person, resulting in their brains splattered all over the wall behind them, and leaving the couple in deep shock.
Early on, it gets a bit like Cape Fear when the convict father of the dead lad, Ben Russel (Sam Shepard), keeps turning up to silently harrass Dane and his family, with it looking to the police like he’s just going about his daily business. Thankfully, though, this is only a small part of it, so just when I thought it might possibly be about to derail itself, it quickly gets back on track (ooh, two train references in one sentence!)
There’s more to discover, however, as events take a turn I wasn’t expecting and from that point on it’s best not to say any more about the film, for fear of giving away too much, other than it’s a must-see and utterly fascinating.
Don Johnson plays private detective Jim Bob Luke, and sadly doesn’t turn up until halfway through the film, but already what we’ve had is absolutely solid and what follows after is also just as solid.
The three leads all bring their A-game to the table in Cold In July. Sam Shepard feels like he’s been in the acting world since time began, Don Johnson is the epitome of cool ever since the days of Miami Vice – whilst also having a successful music career, his Heartbeat album being one of my all-time favourites, and with Michael C Hall having come to the fore in two of the most outstanding US dramas in recent times, Six Feet Under followed by Dexter, despite the latter ending last year, I was very much looking forward to seeing him in something new and I wasn’t let down.
There’s tension and atmosphere delivered in spades and also a great electro music soundtrack, even though electro music had rather died out by 1989 – but that last point is rather a nit-pick when this is so damn good.
Like Blue Ruin, which is a great film to double-bill this one, I was really looking forward to this as it’s one of a number of indie films released this year which have been criminally ignored by my local Odeon in favour of unbelievable dross like Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie! They should be compelled to give such fare a chance. By doing so, more people would get to see them.
Go to page 2 for the presentation and the extras.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.