Danish provocateur and filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn has been away from features for a decade. Still, his return sounds built from the same combustible materials that made him such a divisive, visually obsessive figure in the first place: violence, desire, menace, neon dread, and a young woman descending into a world that may not let her back out.
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The first teaser trailer has arrived for “Her Private Hell,” Refn’s new horror-thriller, which premieres Out of Competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival today before opening in U.S. theaters this summer via NEON. Cannes lists the film as a 109-minute Danish production directed by Refn, who co-wrote the screenplay with Esti Giordani.
The film follows Elle, played by Sophie Thatcher (“Companion,” “Heretic,” “Yellowjackets”), a troubled young woman searching for her father after a mysterious mist engulfs a futuristic metropolis and unleashes a deadly, elusive presence. According to Cannes, her journey collides with an American GI trying to rescue his daughter from Hell.
The cast also includes Charles Melton as Private K, Havana Rose Liu as Dominique, Kristine Froseth as Hunter, Dougray Scott as Johnny Thunders, Diego Calva as Nico, Shioli Kutsuna as Ms. T, Aoi Yamada as Ms. S, and Hidetoshi Nishijima as Hayashi. Cannes also credits Magnus Nordenhof Jønck as cinematographer, Pino Donaggio as composer, Matthew Newman as editor, and Gitte Malling as production designer.
For Refn, “Her Private Hell” marks his first feature since 2016’s “The Neon Demon.” In the years since, he has worked in television with Amazon’s “Too Old to Die Young” and Netflix’s “Copenhagen Cowboy,” extending his taste for criminal underworlds, lacquered surfaces, and slow-burn violence into longer-form storytelling. “Her Private Hell” brings him back to Cannes, where much of his modern reputation was shaped through “Drive,” “Only God Forgives,” and “The Neon Demon.”
Here’s the official synopsis:
When a mysterious mist engulfs a futuristic metropolis, unleashing a deadly and elusive entity, a troubled young woman searches for her father. Her quest collides with an American GI on a harrowing odyssey to rescue his daughter from hell.
NEON is giving “Her Private Hell” a U.S. theatrical release on July 24, 2026. Watch the teaser trailer below.
