Cold in July

Cold in July is a 2014 American independent crime thriller film directed by Jim Mickle, written by Mickle and Nick Damici, and starring Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and Don Johnson. The film takes place in 1980s Texas and is based on the novel Cold in July by author Joe R. Lansdale. Hall plays a man who kills a burglar, whose father (Shepard) subsequently seeks revenge. The plot is further complicated when a private investigator (Johnson) shows up. The project had a long gestation, and production did not begin until seven years after Mickle read the novel. Mickle and Damici had previously written about feminist themes in We Are What We Are (2013) and wanted to cover more masculine themes. Filming took place over 25 days in the Hudson Valley area of New York. It premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. IFC Films theatrically released the film in North America on May 23, 2014, where it grossed $427,418. The film is "Certified Fresh" at Rotten Tomatoes and has an approval rating of 85%. It was released on DVD on September 30, 2014. Plot Ann Dane, startled by the sound of a door window breaking, wakes her husband, Richard. He accidentally shoots the intruder, identified as Freddy Russell, a wanted felon. Richard is shaken by the experience. Richard visits the cemetery on the day of Freddy's burial where Freddy's father, Ben—a paroled convict—accosts Richard in his car, making a veiled reference to Richard's son, Jordan. Alarmed, Richard picks up Jordan from school and arranges for Ann to meet them at the police station. Though Ben follows him to his son's school, the police decline Richard's request for help. However, when the Danes arrive home to find their front door broken in, the family is put under police protection. Police are posted around the house, including one guard inside, hoping to catch Ben when he returns. It turns out that Ben never left and has been hiding in the house's crawlspace since the initial break-in. He emerges and knocks out the guard, goes into Jordan's room, and locks the door. When Richard is alerted to Ben's presence inside the house by the sound of water dripping from the open crawlspace hatch, he alerts the observing police and breaks down Jordan's bedroom door. Ben has already escaped out the window and to a nearby river, however, and is tracked to Mexico—where he is apprehended.