Entertainment
Nicolas Winding Refn’s Cyberpunk Sci-Fi Horror Just Ruined the Word “Daddy” for Me Forever
Sci-fi has many flavors. You have the post-apocalyptic world, the space epic, the dystopian society, and then you have cyberpunk. As one of the most popular subgenres, cyberpunk is easily recognizable. Mammoth cityscapes, neon glowing signs, a touch of retro technology for added flavor, and an overwhelming and oppressive darkness blanketing it all. Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Her Private Hell has all of those traits. On the very surface, it appears to be a sci-fi lovers’ dream, encapsulating the cyberpunk aesthetic perfectly. But dig a bit deeper under that neon, glossy surface and all you’ll find is a hollow core.
‘Her Private Hell’ Is a Visual Feast — One That You Can’t Look Away From
There’s no denying that Refn is a talented visual artist. His previous films, like Drive and Neon Demon, show that he’s been refining this aesthetic for years. The culmination of his sleek and almost storybook-like style is Her Private Hell. Every single shot feels manicured. From the costuming to the lighting to the set design, one gets the sense that Refn was unwilling to compromise in the preciseness of his vision. While some cyberpunk worlds like Blade Runner have a more lived-in and gritty feel, his world is immaculate. Every surface is clean, all of the costumes are perfectly tailored and ironed, and even the murders seem contained.
While this type of aesthetic might have been appealing in a 2015 Tumblr blog kind of way, this all ends up making Her Private Hell feel like a perpetual perfume ad. Coming in at 109 minutes, the film still feels like a slog as every shot lingers more on the setting than it does on the characters. Admittedly, Refn’s world is gorgeous and dreamlike, but it feels oddly empty and lifeless. Mix that with the stilted and agonizing dialogue and mechanical storytelling and the whole thing feels somehow both high effort and low effort.
Nicolas Winding Refn Cannot Be Trusted To Write Women Characters
Partway into the movie, one of the characters dully remarks, “This movie’s gonna be hell,” and I couldn’t help but laugh at the meta commentary. Because the fact is that as pretty as Refn’s film appears, what is at its core is rotten if not completely hollow. Obsessively attached to the male gaze, this film primarily features female actors that Refn likes dressing up and revealing outfits while also making them pout and say the word “Daddy” so much your ears might be bleeding by the time you leave the theater.
Sophie Thatcher plays the main character, Elle, who is essentially a nepo baby with daddy issues. Her father, Johnny Thunders (Dougray Scott), has married one of her close friends, Dominique (Havana Rose Liu), simultaneously ruining their friendship and making Elle’s new stepmother the same age as her. The two characters nip and bite at each other, but it’s largely toothless as Refn is more interested in exploiting the sexual chemistry between the characters but too cowardly to actually commit to it. It would have been interesting to push this subtext closer to the surface of the story, but that would have required two women talking about something other than a man, and that seems unacceptable.
But Refn’s worst character is Hunter (Kristine Froseth), who plays a doll-eyed ingénue who embodies the peak of all that is wrong with the film. Hunter spends most of the movie obnoxiously invading Elle’s home, writhing around and flirting with every man in sight, and generally speaking in a baby voice that is far more grating than it should be. The script doesn’t do anything to help. Penned by Refn himself and Esti Giordani, I wouldn’t have needed to look at the credits to know that this is a movie written by men and for men. The characters are all beautiful but shallow, their only conflict is fighting amongst each other for the attention of men, and the only character to get any hint of depth in their storyline is a soldier named Private K (Charles Melton).
Refn Wastes All of the Talent in ‘Her Private Hell’
This is not to say that the cast can really be blamed for Her Private Hell‘s failures. When you’re given a pseudo-noir script that feels more like Sin City fanfiction than an actual script, you don’t exactly have a deep well to draw from. The standout performance is Liu, who is doing everything she can to give Dominique a bit more depth beyond just being that girl who married her best friend’s dad. There are moments when, rather than deliver a line in the same monotone and robotic manner as everyone else, she adds a bit of her own punch, and it actually serves to give the film a bit more color, even if it is for a split second.
The same can’t unfortunately be said for Thatcher, who is undoubtedly playing Elle exactly how Refn wants her to, but therefore creates an insufferable, spoiled brat who is not only hard to relate to, but exhausting to watch. There’s no nuance to her character, and Refn makes no effort to really offer her anymore to do. Instead, she spends most of the movie looking beautiful and complaining about her daddy, with the film taking a sharp turn in the third act by giving her a groan-worthy sex scene while someone is being killed.
The action sequences are fairly entertaining, with one main one featuring Melton, who plays a soldier who has tragically lost his daughter. Melton employs all of his physical prowess in these fight scenes, and they land solidly, though there’s little action in the film in general. The plot of the film follows a villain named the Leather Man, who murders girls by tearing them apart at the chest, but there’s never really any fear or anticipation built up for the character. For something marketed as a horror-thriller, there’s nothing thrilling about Her Private Hell and the only horrific thing is that someone deemed this a worthy endeavor to invest money and time into it.
Unfortunately, this is the exact type of bait for the movie buff that we all know and hate. That pretentious film lover who waxes on about his Criterion collection, who is happy to admit to loving Woody Allen in 2026, who uses words like “kafkaesque” without any hint of irony. It’s for this type of man that Her Private Hell is made for. There’s very little mainstream appeal to this. Indeed, there’s one scene where Thatcher, Liu, and Froseth simply lounge on a couch, looking beautiful, and bark at each other like dogs. Every time you think the film might finally actually step into the horror arena, it takes a step back and instead indulges in empty titillation. This film is for people who already love Refn’s work and are willing to look past any faults to simply rejoice in his return ten years after Neon Demon. But after walking out of Her Private Hell, the movie has me thinking that perhaps Refn should have stayed dormant another 10 years if this is the final product.
- Release Date
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July 24, 2026
- Director
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Nicolas Winding Refn
- Writers
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Esti Giordani, Nicolas Winding Refn
- Producers
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Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast
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Sophie Thatcher
Uncredited
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- The visuals of the film lack some girttiness but ultimately are gorgeous to look at.
- A first year film student could definitely write a better script than this one.
- Refn exposes himself as someone who simply doesn’t understand women or how to write them.
- The film comes in under two hours and yet it is an undeniable slog to get through.
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