Get ready for glitter, sex and violence.
We were wondering where this one would be slotted in the 2026 calendar. Neon has finally set a summer release window, July 24 theatrical rollout, on 800–1,200 screens, for Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Her Private Hell.”
This is Refn’s first film after a ten-year sabbatical from features. It will premiere out of competition at Cannes later this month. The film stars Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Dougray Scott, Diego Calva, and Kristine Froseth.
Plot details: “As a strange mist engulfs a futuristic metropolis and unleashes an elusive, deadly presence, a troubled young woman sets out in search of her father. In the course of her quest, her fate intersects with that of an American GI engaged in a desperate journey to pull his daughter out of Hell.”
In case you’re still not sold, Refn previously referred to “Her Private Hell” as an original story filled with “glitter, sex, and violence”—in other words, signature territory for the filmmaker. It will also revisit themes and possibly characters from some of his previous works.
Why isn’t it playing in competition? Refn’s last three films competed for the Palme d’Or, but “Her Private Hell” has instead been slotted into a midnight screening—which, truth be told, isn’t a bad fit for his style of filmmaking.
Refn’s last film was the delightfully divisive “The Neon Demon” in 2016, a body-horror acid trip starring Elle Fanning that debuted at Cannes to a chorus of boos, bravos, and early exits. He’s kept busy with TV, directing “Copenhagen Cowboy” for Netflix, Amazon’s “Too Old to Die Young,” and producing the BBC’s “The Famous Five.”
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