by Alex Billington
July 6, 2026
Source: YouTube
“That’s him…” Kino Lorber is releasing this new indie western made by the English filmmaker Alex Cox titled Dead Souls, his latest creation at age 71. Cox is best known for his punk rock films from the 1980s – Repo Man, Sid & Nancy, Straight to Hell, Walker, Highway Patrolman. This latest is another western, and this one actually stars Alex Cox himself in the lead role. After playing at film festivals last year it’s now in select US theaters and will be on VOD soon as well. Set in 1890 – the year of the US census – chaos erupts when a man named Strindler arrives in a town in Arizona and requests money for providing the names of dead Mexican laborers. It’s described as a meditative, sincere landscape at the borderlands of the American nightmare: where fortunes rest on a dirty deal, and legacies are built on blood and gold. For his directorial swan song, Cox stars in this frontier fable of American greed. Follow mysterious drifter “Strindler” as he scours the Westt –he is paying money for the names of Dead Mexicans. No one knows why… Alex Cox stars with Zander Schloss, Dick Rude, Edward Tudor-Pole, Merritt Crocker, Maria Robles, Karen E. Wright, & Eric Schumacher. The reviews are mixed so far. One calls it an “uneven but enjoyably bizarre love letter to the spaghetti western genre.” Not much to see in this trailer, but if you’re curious give it a spin.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Alex Cox’s western film Dead Souls, direct from KL’s YouTube:
Here at this border town in 1890, Strindler (Alex Cox) – or is it “Swindler”? – raises eyebrows when he offers to pay a pretty penny to add to his list of names. Wandering affably from saloon to ranch, Strindler exercises the old adage that money talks – but sometimes too loudly. Between the town drunk, hot-headed cowherds & local outlaws, Strindler soon finds himself tangled up in his own tall tales. A loose adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s 1842 novel of the same name. Pistol duels and crooked officials abound, and spaghetti Western legend Gianni Garko claims a co-writer credit. But Cox’s idiosyncrasy stands out as the film veers tonally through the picaresque, dark satire and genre curveballs you won’t expect. Dead Souls is written and directed by the English writer / filmmaker Alex Cox, director of the movies Repo Man, Sid & Nancy, Straight to Hell, Walker, Highway Patrolman, Death and the Compass, The Winner, Three Businessmen, Revengers Tragedy, Searchers 2.0, Repo Chick, Bill the Galactic Hero, Tombstone Rashomon previously. Co-written by Gianni Garko. Produced by Merritt Crocker & Guillermo de Oliveira. This first premiered at the 2025 Almeria Western Film Festival in Spain last year and screened at a few other fests. Kino Lorber has already debuted Cox’s Dead Souls film in select US theaters – it’s playing now. For info visit the official site.
