Picturehouse Blog

Not only is this the Danish director's first film in a decade, following 2016's The Neon Demon, but it was born from the ashes of a terrifying health crisis that left him clinically dead for 25 minutes.  

"I was brought back to life with electricity, like Frankenstein," Refn told Screen Daily before the film's premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival. "I suddenly realised I could start over again." It was a sign to Refn to surrender himself entirely to his creativity. More neon, more neo-noir, more outrageous – Her Private Hell marks the director at his purest, boldest and most free. 

The film features scream queen of the moment Sophie Thatcher (Companion, Yellowjackets) in what The Wrap calls a "transcendent" performance. It follows a young actress as she starts to unravel in the face of betrayal by her father (Dougray Scott) and former best friend (Havana Rose Liu, Bottoms, Tuner), while an American GI (Charles Melton, Beef) fights to rescue his daughter from a hellish criminal underworld. 

Their world is misty, concealed – a perfect hiding place for a killer known as Leatherman, who wields razor-sharp diamonds on his gloves. He brings with him some of the giallo horrors of Brian de Palma, Nicolas Roeg, Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento, underlined by a lush, passionate score from one of their most brilliant collaborators, Italian composer Pino Donaggio.

Although Refn's work has become increasingly dreamlike and sensory since 2011's Oscar-nominated Drive, what he offers is original, intoxicating and fresh. An operatic mash-up of martial arts, sci-fi , horror and beyond, Her Private Hell delivers maximalist filmmaking at its most ambitious.  

 Clarisse Loughrey

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Her Private Hell is in cinemas from 25 September — Book Now!