Her Private Hell
Teaser poster
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Written by
  • Nicolas Winding Refn
  • Esti Giordani
Produced by Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring
  • Sophie Thatcher
  • Charles Melton
  • Kristine Froseth
  • Havana Rose Liu
  • Diego Calva
Cinematography Magnus Nordenhof Jønck
Edited by Matthew Newman
Music by Pino Donaggio
Production
company
byNWR[1][2]
Distributed by
  • Neon (United States)
Release dates
  • 18 May 2026 (2026-05-18) (Cannes)
  • 24 July 2026 (2026-07-24) (United States)
Running time
109 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • Denmark
Languages
  • English
  • Japanese

Her Private Hell is a 2026 sci-fi thriller film[3] produced and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, co-written with Esti Giordani. It stars Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Dougray Scott, Diego Calva, Shioli Kutsuna, Aoi Yamada and Hidetoshi Nishijima.

The film had its world premiere out of competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on 18 May and is scheduled for a theatrical release in the United States by Neon on 24 July 2026.

Cast

  • Sophie Thatcher as Elle
  • Charles Melton as Private K
  • Havana Rose Liu as Dominique
  • Kristine Froseth as Hunter
  • Dougray Scott as Johnny Thunders
  • Diego Calva as Nico
  • Shioli Kutsuna as Ms T
  • Aoi Yamada as Ms S
  • Hidetoshi Nishijima as Hayashi
  • Parker Sawyers as Terry

Production

After creating a pair of limited series, Too Old to Die Young for Amazon Prime Video and Copenhagen Cowboy for Netflix, Refn began work on his next feature film, his first since 2016's The Neon Demon.[4] In an interview with Variety in August 2024, he said that he planned on shooting the film in Tokyo, with English and Japanese being the primary spoken languages of the project.[4]

In April 2025, Neon and Refn announced the project, describing it as "something groovy", with the title Her Private Hell being revealed.[5][4] It was financed by Neon and produced by Refn under his production company byNWR.[6] The main cast was also announced, with Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton in lead roles, alongside Kristine Froseth and Havana Rose Liu.[5] Dougray Scott, Shioli Kutsuna, Diego Calva, Aoi Yamada and Hidetoshi Nishijima was also cast.[7][8]

Principal photography took place in Copenhagen over 57 days from May to July 2025.[6] The film was in post-production by March 2026.[9] Pino Donaggio created the original score, marking his first collaboration with Refn.[10]

Release

Her Private Hell was presented Out of Competition at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2026, receiving a 12-minute standing ovation.[11]

It is set for a theatrical release in the United States from Neon on 24 July 2026 across 800–1,200 screens.[12] In March 2026, Mubi acquired distribution rights from Neon International for the United Kingdom and Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Latin America.[9]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 40% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.7/10.[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 38 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[14]

In a positive review for TheWrap, Chase Hutchinson deemed Thatcher's performance her "most daring yet", comparing it to Jack Nicholson's performance in The Shining at times. He also warned viewers that if they disliked Refn's past work, they "will likely be incredibly put off and alienated by everything playing out".[15] Jordan Mintzer from The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "NWR does give us a warning early on when he has one of his characters only half-ironically claim: 'This movie's gonna be hell.' But that doesn't make watching Her Private Hell any less hellish". He did praise the lead cast performances, cinematography, production design, and homages to classic slasher directors like Dario Argento and Brian De Palma.[1]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, "Her Private Hell is a disaster, but even that's part of its hipster factor. The film practically announces that it's too cool to be coherent".[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Mintzer, Jordan (19 May 2026). "'Her Private Hell' Review: Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton in Danish Bad Boy Nicolas Winding Refn's Agonizingly Self-Indulgent Return to Filmmaking". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  2. ^ a b Gleiberman, Owen (20 May 2026). "'Her Private Hell' Review: Nicolas Winding Refn Gets Lost in His Own Private Filmmaking Hell With This David Lynch-on-Bad-Acid Disaster". Variety. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  3. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (18 May 2026). "Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Her Private Hell' Gets 12-Minute Ovation In Cannes". Deadline. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  4. ^ a b c Keslassy, Elsa (30 August 2024). "Nicolas Winding Refn Is Preparing His Big Screen Comeback With a Tokyo-Set Movie to Start Shooting Next Year (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  5. ^ a b Ritman, Alex (23 April 2025). "Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton Join Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Her Private Hell' at Neon". Variety. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  6. ^ a b Mitchell, Wendy (16 May 2026). "Nicolas Winding Refn on new film 'Her Private Hell', and how a near-death experience led him to rethink his career". Screen Daily. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  7. ^ Grobar, Matt (12 June 2025). "Nicolas Winding Refn's Neon Pic 'Her Private Hell' Adds Dougray Scott, Diego Calva, Aoi Yamada, Shioli Kutsuna & Hidetoshi Nishijima To Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
  8. ^ "Her Private Hell". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
  9. ^ a b Dalton, Ben (27 March 2026). "Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Her Private Hell' sells to key territories including UK-Ireland". Screen Daily. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  10. ^ Reporter, Film Music (31 March 2026). "Pino Donaggio Scoring Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Her Private Hell'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  11. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (18 May 2026). "Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Her Private Hell' Gets 12-Minute Ovation In Cannes". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  12. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (1 May 2026). "Nicolas Winding Refn's Cannes Title 'Her Private Hell' Sets U.S. Summer Release". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  13. ^ "Her Private Hell". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
  14. ^ "Her Private Hell". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
  15. ^ Hutchinson, Chase (19 May 2026). "'Her Private Hell' Review: Sophie Thatcher Is Transcendent in Nicolas Winding Refn's Slippery Sci-Fi Horror". TheWrap. Retrieved 19 May 2026.