Her Private Hell (2026 film)
Film by Nicolas Winding Refn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Her Private Hell (also known as Her Private Hell by NWR) is a 2026 science fiction horror thriller film[7] produced and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, from a story he wrote and a screenplay he co-wrote with Esti Giordani. It stars Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Shioli Kutsuna, Aoi Yamada, Dougray Scott, Diego Calva, and Hidetoshi Nishijima.
- Nicolas Winding Refn
- Esti Giordani
| Her Private Hell | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Nicolas Winding Refn |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Nicolas Winding Refn |
| Produced by | Nicolas Winding Refn |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Magnus Nordenhof Jønck |
| Edited by | Matthew Newman |
| Music by | Pino Donaggio |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 110 minutes[6] |
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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. The film received negative reviews from critics.
Cast
- Sophie Thatcher as Elle
- Charles Melton as Private K
- Havana Rose Liu as Dominique
- Kristine Froseth as Hunter
- Shioli Kutsuna as Ms T
- Aoi Yamada as Ms S
- Dougray Scott as Johnny Thunders
- Diego Calva as Nico
- 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, Nicolas Winding Refn began work on his next feature film, his first since 2016's The Neon Demon.[8] 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.[8]
In April 2025, Neon and Refn announced the project, describing it as "something groovy", with the title Her Private Hell being revealed.[9][8] It was financed by Neon and produced by Refn under his production company byNWR.[10] The main cast was also announced, with Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton in lead roles, alongside Kristine Froseth and Havana Rose Liu.[9] Dougray Scott, Shioli Kutsuna, Diego Calva, Aoi Yamada and Hidetoshi Nishijima was also cast.[11][12]
Principal photography took place in Copenhagen over 57 days from May to July 2025.[10] The film was in post-production by March 2026.[13] Pino Donaggio created the original score, marking his first collaboration with Refn.[14]
![](#/media/File:The_Cast_of_"Her_Private_Hell"_at_the_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival_03.jpg)
Release
Her Private Hell was presented out of competition at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2026, receiving between a 7 and a 12-minute standing ovation.[15][16] However, there were some walkouts throughout the screening, allegedly due to boredom.[17]
It is set for a theatrical release in the United States from Neon on 24 July 2026 across 800–1,200 screens.[18] In March 2026, Mubi acquired distribution rights from Neon International for the United Kingdom and Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Latin America.[13]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 43% of 28 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Intoxicating in style but saddled with pacing that feels like purgatory, Her Private Hell is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition from Nicolas Winding Refn that the unconverted will happily decline."[19]
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 38 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[20]
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".[21] 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.[3]
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".[4]
