Her Private Hell (2026)

Our Public Purgatory. Paradise for some.

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Nicholas Winding Refn movies are kind of like antimatter.

They’re highly explosive and they don’t make any sense in our universe.

It’s wrong to think of them as good or bad, most come from a space where the definitions of good and bad don’t really apply.

Take Refn’s previous movie, The Neon Demon, which was difficult to describe, let alone judge. I prefer to describe what watching it was like.

I saw the movie ten years ago in a packed theatre full of people completely unaware of the kind of movie they were about to watch. They only heard it was a masterpiece. Almost none of that audience was used to watching scary movies. I was, and even I found the climax of The Neon Demon a bit intense. Other people in that audience were literally screaming.

Refn’s new movie, Her Private Hell, premiered in Cannes earlier this year, where the reviews were unkind¹. But many Refn movies do poorly at Cannes and then go on to become “masterpieces” or at least, cult classics.

I’ve watched a lot of the interviews Refn did to promote this movie. In nearly all, Refn is asked what inspired him to make Her Private Hell and he goes on to explain that he recently died for a period of 25-minutes and after being revived he knew he needed to make as many movies as possible.

This may or may not be true, but what’s interesting is how uncomfortable the journalists get when they hear this. All of them desperately try to change the subject and their facial expressions read “Oh no! he’s trolling me!”

Refn could be trolling everybody with Her Private Hell, a movie that looks and sounds beautiful and sexy, but is not easy to describe and is definitely not a comfortable experience.

The Plot: “Can you imagine, being so attractive and so unfuckable?” says Elle (Sophie Thatcher) to Dominique (Havana Rose Liu). She’s talking about Hunter (Kristine Froseth).

Hunter is an up and coming actress, eager to become famous and learn all the industry gossip. Dominique and Elle, both experienced movie stars, can’t help bonding over contempt for Hunter, but that doesn’t mean they don’t hate each other.

Both women are the same age, but Dominique has recently married Elle’s father, producer/director/actor legend, Johnny Thunders (Dougray Scott). Johnny insists that Elle treats Dominique as a step-mother. Elle will never forgive Dominique for this.

Unfortunately, Elle, Dominique and Johnny² have all been cast in the same movie, a Barbarella-esque space opera full of plate-mail makeup and phallic space-guns. They’ll be working together for months and the experience will be hell if they can’t find a way to get along.

So, Johnny suggests that everyone trauma bond over the fact that the notorious serial killer, The Leatherman, is currently hunting them.

Now might be good time to mention that this movie takes place entirely on floors 179 through 243 of a luxury hotel inside a futuristic skyscraper high above the clouds…except what looks like clouds is actually a preternatural mist that has settled on the city below.

The mist carries strange diseases and turns men into monsters, hence The Leatherman³, who has broken into the Skyscraper and is gradually making his way up, killing everyone floor by floor. As I’ve already mentioned, this is a very big building, so it will take the Leatherman some time to reach Elle, Dominique et all, but he will get there soon.

Meanwhile….

Private K (Charles Melton) is a US Marine seeking vengeance against the Leather Man. He traverses the same skyscraper, infiltrating sketchy brothels that seem to be on every floor, and beating the clientele senseless. One Gangster almost bests him, but K prevails by stabbing him in the eye and kicking him in the belly so hard he leaves a footprint on the skin.⁴

Will Private K find the Leather Man before he finds Elle and Dominique?

Will Elle and Dominique ever learn to tolerate each other?

Will private K ever put a shirt on?⁵

And what about Nico! (Diego Calva)

All of these questions have answers but you’re unlikely to remember them

You will remember the gorgeous shades of red and blue lighting that make Her Private Hell feel like a Giallo movie.

You will remember Louise Bruun’s surreal and futurist hair and makeup design.

You will remember Shioli Kutsuna and Aoi Yamada as Ms. T and Ms. S, the stunningly beautiful, stunningly attired, absolutely terrifying wardrobe attendants working on the Barbarella-esque movie.

You’ll remember Sophie Thatcher’s brilliant performance that evokes both Rachel the Replicant and Jessica Rabbit.

You’ll remember the scene with the golden axe, the scene with the pin cushion bracelet and all of “space-gun” scenes.

You’ll remember Charles Melton beating everyone senseless.

You’ll probably remember an anime show or two this all reminds you of.

You will definitely remember the extraordinary score, composed by 84-year old Pino Donaggio.

I remember the interview where Refn revealed how he answered Donnagio when asked what sort of score he wanted.

“Pino, you’re going to be dead soon, make this score something that matters! Make it something that counts!”

Pretty good advice for everyone, truly.

1. Unkind is very popular at Cannes, where people frequently make a point of booing the movies they don’t like.

2. So has Hunter, but everyone ignores her.

3. Who, in truth, doesn’t look very leathery. A more wardrobe appropriate name would be The Gem Sweater Man but perhaps that doesn’t sound as menacing.

4. The gangster was played by a professional Sumo Wrestler named Taka, who encouraged Melton to kick him in stomach until a footprint was visible.

5. Fortunately, he does not.