Her Private Hell Review

A Giallo Nerds Gummy Cluster

Nicolas Winding Refn is back with another divisive film that’s pulling audiences and critics apart at the seams. Water is indeed wet once again. There has been a ton of online vitriol swirling around this movie, where I’ve personally seen videos and tweets of people saying they walked out of the theater, were repulsed, and believe it’s the worst movie they’ve ever seen. Refn should have his director’s card pulled and sent right to jail for this monstrosity he’s unleashed onto the public. Sophie Thatcher, fire your agent immediately! Now, I’ve also seen on the other side of the spectrum critics and mutuals online were taken aback by Her Private Hell and were completely intoxicated by this Neon dreamscape. Refn has already created a misunderstood cult classic (hate when people call a movie a cult classic when it’s been out a week), and no one creates a vibe or a mood like this Danish freak. So, I’m late to the party, but I’m kind of glad I saw this last night, as the neon fog of war (discourse) has cleared, and with diamond eyes, open hearts ripped out, can’t lose. Has Her Private Hell entered the hallowed halls of being called a prestigious Giallo?! No, and that’s okay; I thought the movie was just fine. Refn has created a visual treat for the eyes that lacks any real substance, but I love the swings and the world he’s engrossed himself in. If I saw this in the 2010s when I was in high school, the imagery on here would have gone triple platinum on my Tumblr just like his movie Drive (2011) became my whole personality. Those who are starving for any director to tap into Argento or De Palma, I think there’s a ton of cool texture that can satiate that hunger, and why I totally get those being over the moon for Her Private Hell, but this Disney Princess dream/hellscape left me feeling like I was shrouded in some gray fog myself.

Her Private Hell is set in a futuristic metropolis where Elle (Sophie Thatcher) is on the search for her father while a killer is on the loose killing young girls. Her story intersects with Private K (Charles Melton), a young soldier on the search for her daughter who’s been abducted by this evil entity that’s appeared with this strange fog. Will the two be able to find the ones they love amongst this doomed world, or will The Leatherman rip them apart?

Refn and cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck come together to give you candy for the eyes with visuals that are quite stunning at times. You’re totally immersed in this dystopian, wealthy sky rises whose production design is stellar. You’ll find yourself amongst beautiful giant crystals in a sci-fi adventure, and eventually descend into the gritty neon underground of the Yakuza with Charles Melton. It’s a total trip, and I feel as though the film captures this dreamy, faraway feeling of waking/sleeping, of finding some bizarre giallo on your hotel TV in some distant European country, which is something magical and why I can understand the appeal for so many. The flashing red and blue lights striking these gorgeous people can be wondrous to soak in, but at the end of the day, it feels like walking through the perfume section of the mall and finally not being able to take the smell anymore. The conversations early on in the film that don’t involve Charles Melton slashing and fighting off the Yakuza can feel so empty.

Havana Rose Liu plays Thatcher’s evil stepmother, and the two are obsessed with each other. Still, it all falls flat until the climax, when I was finally jolted with some energy from them instead of just being two weirdos saying exactly what’s happening in the story or how they feel. Hey, I think subtext can be for cowards as much as the next guy, but I have a limit. Havana Rose Liu stood out the most for me, like she was doing some special type of bizarness, and every scene with her and Sophie Thatcher I was waiting for a little bit more. There’s a scene that I feel like people were totally weirded out by where they speak like wolves to each other, and honestly found it cute and funny, like give me some more of that. I don’t want this facade of coolness and smoking; give me some substance, please, to these hot and cool people in this world that kind of rocks to inhabit. Outside of Melton’s scenes of wrecking and covering himself in blood fighting the Yakuza, I was vibing with the textures and world but nothing more. Refn’s not really saying anything that I can at least latch onto meaningfully, but that’s cool too. Anything about daddy issues, women’s treatment in Hollywood or the world, and identities at odds with each other all washed over me with glitter and neon.

Couple more things on Her Private Hell: Pinno Donaggio’s score is out of this world and totally works in tandem to elevate the mood and style that Refn is after. Will totally be on repeat for me and wanting to enter my own dreamy, weavy existence. To those weaklings who walked out of the theater because they couldn’t handle this movie, I don’t get that at all. There’s not a scene serious enough to have that type of outrage, like some bloody kills and a little silliness and maybe one scene involving some underwear in a mouth, but come on, watch more movies, I’m begging. This was awfully tame compared to what the public outcry was claiming. It was lovely to have Diego Calva back in a major motion picture, and he’s unbelievably hot here that he might be worth the price of admission. Finally, I smiled at the thought of Charlie from Always Sunny in Philadelphia making his The Nightman Cometh movie, and this is what he imagined with such beauty but the brain of Charlie when it came to the script depth. Anyway, this fully didn’t work for me, but I think there’s a lot there for others to sink their teeth into, and the dreamscape visuals don’t do enough for me to feel much.

Final Score: 6/10

Written by Kevin J. Pettit