#coldinjuly

Inspired by those stories, a new voice was rising from out of the west, Joe R. Lansdale. Lansdale is a literary dynamo whose talent took root in the horror genre and quickly blossomed into the 21st Centuries master of pulp fiction. From Westerns, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror; be it novel, short story, comic, screenplay, animated series, & TV series; if you've never read Lansdale you have no idea what you are missing!

I had read my share of Lansdale's horror fiction before I gave COLD IN JULY a read. It was one of the pinnacle novels, as a reader, that broadened my literary horizons. While I no longer read many of the genre authors who emerged in the 80's & 90's, it's Lansdale's name on the cover or spine of a book that seals the deal for me, regardless of the genre.

In 2011 I was interviewing director/screenwriter Jim Mickle and screenwriter/actor Nick Damici about their film "Stake Land" when they mentioned that their next project would be Joe R. Lansdale's COLD IN JULY. When I heard that I was so titillated I felt like a true fan boy once again.

I have a deep respect and admiration for Mickle & Damici's work since I had the pleasure to see their very first feature, "Mulberry Street," at a special screening they held at NYU Film School with the entire cast & much of  the crew. They had just finished the film earlier in the day they screened it for that audience.

The joining of these artistic tour de forces delivers a solid, entertaining, and intense adult drama that is grounded in an era that made Hollywood actors leading men and crew into the independent era that gave us Roger Corman, John Carpenter Walter Hill, and their contemporaries.

While COLD IN JULY is available for your viewing pleasure on VOD, and if there is not a theater in your area showing in then by all means it will do, you should see this on the big screen:

1. Seeing Joe R. Lansdale's story come to life on the big screen. 2. Mickle's talent direction. 3. Michael C. Hall 4. Nick Damici & Jim Mickle's excellent screenplay that maintains the integrity of Lansdale's yarn for the screen and also utilizes much of Lansdale's unique dialogue. 5. Sam Sheppard. 6. Jeff Grace's incredible score that is as key to this film as Lansdale's dialogue, and is as memorable as the work of John Carpenter and Ennio Morricone. You'll want to add this one to your collection. 7. Don Johnson, who steals the show and delivers a truly memorable character. 8.  Russell Barnes's production designs fully capture the period. 9.  Ryan Samul's excellent cinematography. 10.  Nick Damici, who has come a long way and grown as an actor with each film where Jim Mickle has allowed him to flex his acting talent. He proves he has what it takes to stand side by side with Hollywood greats like Hall, Sheppard, and Johnson.

I believe that one of the most important things an adapting of a work of fiction for the big screen can do, more important than satisfying the author's existing audience, is to expose him/her to an even wider one. I know that Mickle and Damici have succeeded because several audience members asked me if the film was as good as the novel, but of course I had to say it was a little better, and they expressed a desire to read the novel.

Now I'm even more excited to see what happens when Mickle and Damici team up to tackle Lansdale's Hap Collins and Leonard Pine Mysteries for the Sundance Channel. So stay tuned.

So you need to see COLD IN JULY and spend some serious the summer reading you some Lansdale! COLD IN JULY is a great place to start. Oh, yeah!

Cast:  MICHAEL C. HALL... Richard Dane; DON JOHNSON... Jim Bob; SAM SHEPARD... Russel; VINESSA SHAW... Ann Dane; WYATT RUSSELL... Freddy; NICK DAMICI... Ray Price; KRISTIN GRIFFITH... Kay Crew: Director - Jim Mickle; Screenplay - Nick Damici & Jim Mickle; Based on the Novel by Joe R. Lansdale; Producers - Adam Folk, Linda Moran, & Marie Savare; Cinematographer - Ryan Samul; Score - Jeff Grace; Editor - John Paul Horstmann & Jim Mickle; Production Designer - Russell Barnes; Costume Designer - Elisabeth Vastola; Special Makeup Effects - Pete Gerner & Brian Spears. Official Website: www.ifcfilms.com/films/cold-in-july Facebook:  www.facebook.com/IFCFilmsOfficial Twitter: n.a. Release Date: May 24th, 2014 limited & VOD, wide May 30th, 2014