---
title: "Straight to Hell (1987) review"
description: "The Quick and the Dead did this so much better."
url: https://www.joekarlsson.com/reviews/straight-to-hell/
---

![A still from Straight to Hell (1987)](https://www.joekarlsson.com/images/reviews/straight-to-hell/backdrop.webp)

# Straight to Hell (1987)

Jun 9, 2026 | 2 min read | Rated 2.5 out of 5 | Dir. Alex Cox

The Quick and the Dead did this so much better.

As a massive fan of Repo Man - probably watched it twenty times in my life - I’m surprised I haven’t dug into Alex Cox’s other work until now. I didn’t even realize this was a Cox production until I noticed pretty much the entire cast of Repo Man reuniting. That was fun. The movie around them was not.

I found Straight to Hell pointless and meandering in a bad way. It felt like an excuse for a bunch of punks to party in the desert, which it probably was. Stuff actually happens in Repo Man. It has a point - something to say about society, youth, capitalism - all rolled into this Gonzo surrealist fantasy. This has none of that. It just vibes aimlessly.

I actually just watched The Quick and the Dead by Sam Raimi recently, and watching this made me realize how fucking incredible that film is. Similar concept - a small town run by absolute degenerates killing each other - but Raimi has so much more style and more to say with such a simple plot. The acting prowess is incomparable.

The insane fascination with black coffee, Jim Jarmusch showing up - it all felt like parody. It feels like it’s prefiguring so much 90s indie cinema, all the Tarantino worship to come, but without the substance.

I went down an Alex Cox rabbit hole after this. What a strange, weird man. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to many people unless you’re a die-hard fan.

Also on [Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/joekarlsson/film/straight-to-hell/)

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I write about my homelab, AI tools, databases, and the weird stuff I build on the side.

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