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Screens Thursday October 15 at 9:00pm with intro, Sunday October 18 at 5:30pm, and Saturday October 24 at 7:00pm“Mixing elements of Jess Franco, Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and ‘60s Japanese pop-cinema stylists like Seijun Suzuki, Her Private Hell drifts from sublime image to sublime image, loosely held together by bisexual lighting and daddy issues.” – Katie Rife, Inverse
Thursday, October 15 screening will be preceded by an introduction from Must-Watch Indies programmer and film critic Marya E. Gates.
Her Private Hell, Danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn’s return to feature filmmaking after decade in the streaming desert, is a giallo-stained dark fairytale about death, desire, and transformation.
In a nameless techno-futuristic city, actress Elle (Sophie Thatcher) finds herself trapped in the liminal space of a lux, neon-lit hotel waiting out a mythical fog during the making of her new film, an adaptation of a space comic called Candy Floss. Bankrolled by her lothario of a father, Johnny Thunders (a wonderfully leathery Dougray Scott), Jealousy, hatred, and desire swell as tensions rise between Elle and her co-stars Dominique (Havana Rose Liu, her ex-best friend (and likely one-time lover) – who also happens to be her stepmother, and a vapid influencer named Hunter (Kristine Froseth). The fog has also brought with it a dangerous folkloric serial killer known as the Leatherman and a mysterious soldier named Private K (Charles Melton), in search of his young daughter, who may have been a victim of the killer.
With a score by long-time Brian De Palma and Dario Argento collaborator Pino Donaggio that takes story to operatic heights, Refn’s almost Brechtian artificiality allows the film to examine the angst of being the father of daughters – and the daughter of pretty fucked up father – through the broad strokes of genre. Inspired by Refn’s own near-death experience, Her Private Hell is the third film in a trilogy of fairytales (Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon) that explore our darkest emotions and taboo subject matters in a dreamlike manner that is uniquely his own.
Her Private Hell premiered out of competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in May and also screened at Fantasia International Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Deauville American Film Festival.
Nicolas Winding Refn, 100 mins, USA, Denmark, UK, 2026, DCP, English, Japanese
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Event venue
FACETS, 1517 W Fullerton Ave,Chicago, Illinois, United States
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