Nicolas Winding Refn’s cyberpunk sci-fi horror, ‘Her Private Hell’ (109 minutes, releasing July 24, 2026), dazzles with immaculate visuals—but falls apart for many viewers, who say the script is lifeless, the dialogue is agonizing, and the women on screen are
Neon glows. City shadows loom. And yet, by the time the movie gets going, “Her Private Hell” doesn’t feel like a nightmare you can’t escape—it feels like something polished until it forgets to breathe.
At 109 minutes. Nicolas Winding Refn’s new cyberpunk sci-fi horror leans hard into the classic ingredients: mammoth cityscapes. retro technology flavor. and an oppressive darkness blanketing everything in sight. On the surface, it looks like a dream for fans of the genre. Every shot is manicured. the costuming is sharply tailored and ironed. and the set design is so immaculate that even the murders feel “contained.” Refn previously refined this same kind of look through films like Drive and Neon Demon. and “Her Private Hell” reads like the culmination of years of dialing in his sleek. almost storybook-like aesthetic.
But the critique lands the deeper you go. The film’s visual precision—while undeniably gorgeous and dreamlike—makes the world feel “oddly empty and lifeless.” One comparison that keeps resurfacing in the viewing experience is the gap between glossy precision and lived-in grit. Where a cyberpunk world like Blade Runner can feel dirty. worn down. and alive. Refn’s version comes off like a perpetual perfume ad. The result is a movie that lingers—sometimes too long—on settings rather than characters. turning what should be a momentum-driven horror-thriller into a steady slog.
“It’s gonna be hell,” one character says partway in, and the line lands with a dry, almost meta laugh. Because what follows doesn’t just disappoint as a story—it frustrates as a promise. The dialogue is described as “stilted and agonizing. ” and the storytelling as “mechanical. ” with the film feeling both “high effort and low effort” at the same time.
That tension isn’t limited to pacing. It sharpens into something more pointed when the movie reaches the heart of who the film is for—and how it sees the women in front of the camera. Refn’s film leans “obsessively” into the male gaze. with female actors placed in an arrangement that emphasizes dressing. revealing outfits. pouty delivery. and the repeated use of the word “Daddy.” The concentration of that word becomes its own kind of endurance test—so frequent that the moment the theater exit finally arrives is framed as relief from an auditory assault rather than excitement for the story’s stakes.
At the center is Sophie Thatcher as Elle. Elle is portrayed as a nepo baby with “daddy issues. ” and her storyline is set against a personal upheaval: her father. Johnny Thunders (Dougray Scott). has married one of her close friends. Dominique (Havana Rose Liu). That move simultaneously ruins Elle’s friendship and rearranges her life in a way that makes her new stepmother the same age as her. Elle and Dominique “nip and bite” at each other. but the exchange is described as toothless. because Refn is portrayed as more invested in the sexual chemistry between characters than in actually committing to the subtext the story brushes against.
The critique gets even sharper as the film’s writing is described as unwilling to widen beyond a narrow lane. It would have required—so the criticism goes—two women talking about something other than a man, and that departure never arrives.
Hunter, played by Kristine Froseth, is called the film’s worst character. Hunter is described as a “doll-eyed ingénue” who spends much of the movie invading Elle’s home. writhing around and flirting with every man in sight. while speaking in a baby voice that becomes “far more grating than it should be.” The script doesn’t cushion the character or add complexity; the criticism argues the writing leaves her shallow. and the screenplay offers “nothing” that helps.
The film’s writing is credited to Esti Giordani and Nicolas Winding Refn. and with Refn also listed as a producer. the creative imprint is unmistakable. The cast also includes Charles Melton as Private K. a soldier described as the only character who gets any hint of depth. tied to an action-heavy sequence involving a soldier who has tragically lost his daughter.
Even with all that, one performance is treated as a small flare of color in an otherwise flat experience. Havana Rose Liu. playing Dominique. is described as doing everything she can to give Dominique more depth beyond her label as the woman who married her best friend’s dad. The critique points to moments when Liu breaks from the film’s monotone delivery. adding her own punch to lines—small but meaningful enough to briefly change the feel of the scene.
Thatcher’s Elle, by contrast, is described as playing exactly as Refn wants her to be. The result, in this telling, is an insufferable spoiled brat: hard to relate to and exhausting to watch. The portrayal is framed as nuance-free, with Elle mostly looking beautiful and complaining about her daddy. Then the third act reportedly makes a particularly jarring pivot: while someone is being killed. the film introduces a “groan-worthy sex scene. ” a tonal shift that lands as another example of priorities skewed away from horror.
That mismatch is echoed elsewhere. The action sequences are called “fairly entertaining,” including a main set piece featuring Melton. His physical prowess lands in fight scenes—solid enough even if the film doesn’t deliver much action overall. The plot centers on a villain named the Leather Man. who murders girls by tearing them apart at the chest. but the criticism says the story never builds fear or anticipation for the character. For a project marketed as a horror-thriller. the complaint is blunt: there isn’t enough thrill. and the horror is reduced to the shock of seeing money and time spent on a film that doesn’t deliver the tension it promises.
Part of the frustration also seems to come from the sense of target audience. The movie is framed as feeding a particular kind of film lover: the pretentious cinephile who boasts about a Criterion collection. the one unbothered by odd admissions like loving Woody Allen in 2026. and the one who drops words like “kafkaesque” without irony. In this view. “Her Private Hell” has “very little mainstream appeal.” The clearest example offered is a couch scene where Thatcher. Liu. and Froseth simply lounge. looking beautiful. and “bark at each other like dogs. ” a moment presented as indulging in empty titillation rather than stepping into true horror.
And for those who leave the theater thinking about what might have been. the final verdict is not that Refn tried something risky. It’s that he may have pushed too far in the wrong direction—returning after ten years since Neon Demon with a final product that. in this reaction. doesn’t earn its bleak. gorgeous surface.
The release date is July 24, 2026, with Nicolas Winding Refn directing. The film’s writers are Esti Giordani and Nicolas Winding Refn, and the producers are Nicolas Winding Refn. The credited cast includes Sophie Thatcher, Dougray Scott, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, and Charles Melton.
Nicolas Winding Refn Her Private Hell cyberpunk sci-fi horror Sophie Thatcher Dougray Scott Havana Rose Liu Kristine Froseth Charles Melton Drive Neon Demon Blade Runner