Line #20 Film/ColdInJuly


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cold_in_july_image.jpg]]
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3	''Cold in July'' is a 2014 crime thriller film directed by Jim Mickle (''Film/WeAreWhatWeAre'', ''Film/StakeLand''), based on a novel by Joe R. Lansdale (''[[Film/BubbaHoTep Bubba Ho-Tep]]'').
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5	A mild-mannered father, Richard (Creator/MichaelCHall), shoots a burglar in his home. Consumed with guilt, Richard goes to the burglar's funeral; unfortunately, the man's father (Creator/SamShepard) also shows up, looking for revenge. But this is only the beginning of a [[PlotTwist long,]] [[NightmareFuel twisted]] tale.
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8	!!The film has the following tropes:
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10	* AntiHero: [[spoiler:Ben Russell]] once he makes his HeelFaceTurn.
11	* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Freddy Russell.]]
12	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Jim Bob dresses rather colorfully, drives a car with bull horns on the front (it's Texas) and has a rather boastful personality. But he's a Korean War veteran, a skilled gunfighter and a crack private detective who helps uncover the full extent of [[spoiler:Freddy Russell's crimes]].
13	* EyeScream: [[spoiler:The fat criminal with the metal tray, and Ben's son]]
14	* CharacterTics: Ben flicks his lighter open and shut. Richard finds this very unsettling.
15	* CrimeFiction: Murder, conspiracy, criminals, cops, vigilantism, etc.
16	* DeadpanSnarker: Jim Bob, the private detective is a master of this.
17	* DirtyCop: [[spoiler:Sheriff Price helps pass off a burglar as Freddy, who is hiding in Witness Protection from the Dixie Mafia. While this is morally questionable, his attempting to murder Ben to maintain the lie tips him into corruption]].
18	* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Freddy]] may be a torturer and murderer, but he takes issue with one of his subordinates using an offensive term towards British people.
19	* EyeScream: The burglar is shot right in the eye. Ben threatens Richard by tearing the eye out of Richard's son's teddy bear.
20	* FireForgedFriends: In an odd way, [[spoiler:Ben and Richard after Richard saves him from being hit by a train and proves he didn't kill his son.]]
21	* FromCamouflageToCriminal: Ben Russell is a Koran War veteran who ended up serving a pretty lengthy prison sentence. However, the film never tells us exactly what he went to jail for. [[spoiler:He makes use of his combat experience during the film's climax.]]
22	* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:The camera cuts away from the lethal moment in the ''Batting Practice'' snuff film]].
23	* {{Irony}}: Russell, who's looking to avenge his son's death, [[spoiler:ends up killing him when he finds him in the end.]]
24	* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Richard's murder of a burglar in his house reveals [[spoiler:a Dixie mafia informant being protected by the police and making snuff films]].
25	* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:Ben's son Freddy turns out to be alive and under the Witness Protection program.]]
26	* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:After learning of his son’s heinous crimes, Ben swears that he will personally kill him. He succeeds. A rare occasion when this trope is portrayed in a somewhat positive light.]]
27	* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Ben insists that he be the one to [[spoiler:kill his son]].
28	* PeriodPiece: The movie is set in Texas in 1989. Period dress and technology abound. Jim has a lunch box-size cellular phone that he brags about.
29	* PetTheDog: Ben gives a random boy a horse he made with drinking straws, showing that he might have some decency after all.
30	* RiddleForTheAges: the true identity of [[spoiler:the intruder Richard shot and killed]] is never discovered by any of the protagonists.
31	* SnuffFilm: [[spoiler:Freddy, who's under the Witness Protection program, films himself killing illegal immigrant prostitutes and sell the tapes with such labels as ''Batting Practice'']].
32	* SupportingProtagonist: The second half of the film has Richard mostly helping [[spoiler:Ben find out and ultimately kill his scumbag son.]]
33	* {{Thriller}}: A crime thriller, to be exact.
34	* TookALevelInBadass: The whole arc of Richard revolves around this.
35	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never do find out [[spoiler:the identity of the burglar that Richard shot dead at the beginning of the film.]]

Context Film / ColdInJuly