Arguably one of the more anticipated and dreaded releases of the year for horror fans will be Jim Mickle’s remake of Jorge Michel Grau’s ridiculously dark Spanish cannibal flick We Are What We Are, definitely one of the most unsettling horror efforts of the last few years. And should Mickle’s interpretation come anywhere close to resembling the original, genre fans will be a lot more accepting of his future projects.
Especially when one of those projects adapts a novel from one of the most prolific cult authors working. Deadline reports Memento Films International and Backup Media are financing Mickle’s next project, an adaptation of Cold in July, the 1989 revenge thriller from Joe R. Lansdale, probably best known for writing the source material that gave the world the majesty of Don Coscarelli’s Bubba Ho-Tep. The screenplay was written by Mickle and his frequent co-collaborator Nick Damici back in 2009. The duo also co-wrote Mickle’s other features, 2006’s creature feature Mulberry Street and the vampiric sci-fi flick Stake Land.
Cold in July tells the story of Richard Dane, who wakes up during a home invasion and kills his intruder in self-defense. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the intruder’s father is a badass ex-con with plans to avenge his son’s death in the Old Testament way, by killing Dane’s own son. What follows is of course violent, corrupt and full of rich characters, like an R-rated version of FX’s southern-fried Justified.
Production will begin on Cold in July in (get ready for this) late July, with an early 2014 release planned.
