‘Dead Souls’ Trailer – Alex Cox Directs and Stars in Surreal Offbeat Western

Inspired by the classic work by Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls, from acclaimed filmmaker Alex Cox follows the mysterious drifter Strindler as he arrives in an Arizona border town with an unusual proposition that quickly unsettles its residents.

In addition to directing, Cox also stars in the film alongside Zander Schloss, Dick Rude, Merritt Crocker, Brendan Guy Murphy, and a cast that populates this eccentric vision of the Old West.

Dead Souls premiered at the Almería Western Film Festival before screening at the São Paulo International Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and making its United States premiere at San Francisco IndieFest, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. It is scheduled to open in U.S. theaters on June 20, 2026, via Kino Lorber.

Here is the official synopsis: “For his directorial swan song, Alex Cox (Repo Man, Straight To Hell) stars in this frontier fable of American greed. Follow mysterious drifter ‘Strindler’ as he scours the West for the names of dead Mexican labourers. Here at this border town in 1890, Strindler – 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 and local outlaws, Strindler soon finds himself tangled up in his own tall tales.

The Western fits storied filmmaker Cox as snugly as the black bowler hat he wears throughout Dead Souls, 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.

In its review from The Film Verdict, critic Stephen Dalton describes Dead Souls as “an uneven but enjoyably quirky labour of love from an admirably uncompromising indie auteur.” The review added, “Juggling slapstick humour, political critique, trigger-happy action and surreal tangents, Dead Souls does not always hang together comfortably. Cox has made better films, but this offbeat frontier fable is still a charmingly eccentric, mischievous late-career effort with an impressively strong authorial voice.”

Watch the official trailer for Dead Souls above.