---
title: "The Neon Demon"
year: 2016
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-neon-demon"
fi1m_id: "the-neon-demon"
imdb_id: "tt1974419"
tmdb_id: 301365
wikidata_id: "Q19750881"
fi1m_score: 61
critics_score: 61
critics_reviews: 28
published: "2026-09-25T00:27:13.021089+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-25T00:27:23.580567+00:00"
region: "GR"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Neon Demon (2016)

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn · 1h 58m · ΓΓΤΕ K18 · Horror, Thriller

## Identity

The Neon Demon

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-neon-demon
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-neon-demon
- **IMDb ID:** tt1974419
- **TMDB ID:** 301365
- **Wikidata ID:** Q19750881
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1974419/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/301365, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19750881

**Fi1m score: 61** · Critics 61 from 28 reviews

*In a sentence:* Everyone looks ready for a photograph and slightly less ready for a conversation

> Nicolas Winding Refn’s fashion-world horror has enough colour, music and unease to interest patient horror viewers. Elle Fanning gives it some feeling, but thin dialogue and sluggish scenes make this a qualified pleasure.

## Synopsis

In Los Angeles, Jesse (Elle Fanning) is caught up in a fashion world that judges people by their appearance. Ruby (Jena Malone), Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee) are among the women around her, and their exchanges mix attention with hostility. Beauty determines who draws the eye, but being noticed brings unease as well as admiration. Familiar places in the city take on a threatening appearance as Jesse navigates a world where the way people look at one another is difficult to separate from what they want.

## Review

*The Neon Demon* makes being looked at seem like a reasonable thing to fear. Nicolas Winding Refn takes the fashion world’s preoccupation with beauty and makes a horror film from it, with considerable attention to appearances and considerably less to conversation. We would recommend it to the patient and visually minded, with reservations about how much patience it asks for. There is enough unease here to justify the film’s coldness, though not every lengthy pause.

Natasha Braier’s cinematography does the most persuasive work. Saturated colour makes the Los Angeles settings look seductive and unsafe, so that even the pleasure of looking carries a little discomfort. Elliott Hostetter’s production design keeps the fashion-world imagery conspicuously arranged, and that control helps establish a threat before the story has developed much of one. The limitation is that we register some compositions quickly, then spend a long time waiting for someone inside them to do something.

Cliff Martinez’s electronic score gives these images a pulse that the dialogue often lacks. Its insistence helps sustain the tension, particularly when the film seems content to keep us looking without telling us anything new. Matthew Newman’s editing makes room for the music and the compositions, but the lingering rhythm becomes a problem in the static exchanges. Pauses initially make the glances uncomfortable; after enough of them, we start wishing the next line would arrive.

Elle Fanning, as Jesse, gives us a reason to keep watching the people. Her performance allows for uncertainty and self-awareness without making every change conspicuous, and she supplies feeling where the writing can seem determined to exclude it. Jena Malone, as Ruby, provides a stronger sense of danger, making the exchanges among the women feel less safely decorative. Neither performance makes these characters fully knowable, but both suggest thoughts and feelings that the dialogue does little to develop.

The screenplay, credited to Nicolas Winding Refn, Polly Stenham and Mary Laws, is much less assured. We were bored by the women’s static conversations, because the stiff dialogue keeps confirming the same hostility without making their relationships more interesting. Deliberate artificiality is a reasonable choice for this setting, but it does not make every awkward line expressive or every silence tense. The sharper exchanges offer some relief, yet the film too often treats the women’s lack of warmth as sufficient characterisation.

As a horror film, it works best when it allows its own excess to become funny. The contrast between immaculate images and grotesque material has a useful absurdity, and the film has the nerve to risk looking ridiculous. But the shifts in tone sometimes feel like a search for another way to provoke us when the previous one has stopped working. The more extreme material does not make its familiar observations about beauty and cruelty any more perceptive.

The 18 certificate is worth taking seriously; the fashion setting does not make this a gentle evening. It is also a slow one, with stretches that will test anyone waiting for the next plot development. Try it if colour, sound and a patient build-up can hold your attention when the story cannot.

*Fi1m score 61, published 25 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews lean towards qualified admiration, with praise and mixed verdicts equally common and a substantial minority unconvinced. The clearest agreement concerns the imagery: even detractors admire Refn’s saturated colours, carefully arranged fashion settings and sinister vision of Los Angeles, while Cliff Martinez’s electronic score draws repeated praise. Elle Fanning and Jena Malone receive particular attention from supporters, who find menace, black comedy and a pointed critique of beauty worship beneath the polished surfaces.

The spread is wide, and the central dispute is whether that polish serves anything substantial. Reservations cluster around slow pacing, thin characterisation, stilted dialogue and shocks that some find excessive rather than disturbing. Den of Geek embraces the film as a dark fairy tale and provocative black comedy; the Evening Standard finds it self-indulgent and pompous. Even favourable reviews sometimes question the screenplay, so admiration for the craft does not necessarily mean the drama convinces.

## Straight answers

**Is The Neon Demon worth watching?**

*The Neon Demon* is worth considering for patient horror viewers drawn to colour, music and unease; we score it 61 out of 100. Elle Fanning gives the film some feeling, but stiff dialogue and sluggish conversations make this a qualified recommendation, especially if a developing story matters more to you than carefully arranged images.

**How long is The Neon Demon, and what is it rated?**

*The Neon Demon* runs 1h 58m and is rated K18 by the ΓΓΤΕ in Greece. It is a horror and thriller film.

**Where can I watch The Neon Demon in Greece?**

*The Neon Demon* is not on any streaming or rental service in Greece at the moment. It is available in 19 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is The Neon Demon, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Neon Demon* has a UK 18 certificate and is not suitable for children, with grotesque material and an unsettling atmosphere that make its fashion setting far from gentle. We would urge caution for squeamish adults too: the review identifies extreme material without detailing it, while the slow build means the unease comes with long stretches of stillness.

**How does The Neon Demon compare to Perfect Blue?**

*The Neon Demon* shares [*Perfect Blue*](https://film.one/film/perfect-blue)’s interest in the terror of being watched, but we recommend *Perfect Blue* more strongly for its sharper treatment of fame and more intimate fear. Refn’s film offers saturated colour, electronic music and a slower fashion-world nightmare; Kon’s animated thriller favours disorientation, though we have reservations about its final explanation.

**What should I watch after The Neon Demon?**

After *The Neon Demon*, try [*Perfect Blue*](https://film.one/film/perfect-blue) (1997, Fi1m 82): A performer’s public image becomes a source of increasingly intimate terror. Then [*Mulholland Drive*](https://film.one/film/mulholland-drive) (2001, Fi1m 92): Los Angeles ambition turns frightening, with tenderness that makes the cruelty hurt.

### Reviews we read (28)

- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (85/100, inferred): Chang finds the film a hypnotically beautiful, corrosive fashion-world nightmare, and says Refn’s style finally serves its subject. He especially praises the lavish visuals and the sharp interplay among the women, while noting the finale’s deliberately extreme imagery. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-neon-demon-review-20160620-snap-story.html)
- **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (5/4/5): The critic calls it Refn’s best film yet, a gorgeous and unsettling work that critiques image-obsessed culture. Elle Fanning’s transformative performance is singled out as the film’s lifeblood. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-neon-demon)
- **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (4/5): Kermode finds the film a provocative, lurid fable whose guilty pleasures make it both alluring and excessive. He singles out Jena Malone’s fearless performance as its dark heart. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/10/the-neon-demon-review-nicholas-winding-refn)
- **The Independent**, Geoffrey Macnab (4/5): Macnab finds the film stylish, jarring, and sharply satirical, though its shifts between elegance and juvenile shock are striking. He singles out its eerie transformation of familiar Los Angeles settings, heightened by Cliff Martinez’s hypnotic score. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-neon-demon-review-a-wonderfully-stylish-and-stylised-movie-a7123616.html)
- **The AV Club**, A.A. Dowd (B): Dowd finds the film’s visual style and atmosphere mesmerizing, but argues that they overwhelm substance. The praise centers on its opulent, dreamlike mood and depiction of Los Angeles as a seductive, predatory force. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-neon-demon-is-another-dreamy-l-a-thriller-from-the-1798188204)
- **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (B-): Kohn finds the film an amusingly twisted, visually assured ride, though its stilted dialogue and superficial gestures keep it from fully coming together. He praises Refn’s striking visuals and shock-driven third act. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/cannes-review-the-neon-demon-is-a-twisted-ride-of-sex-blood-and-necrophilia-290169/)
- **Screen Daily**, Wendy Ide (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a review, but its verdict is hidden behind a paywall. The accessible text does not reveal what the critic praised or criticized. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-neon-demon-cannes-review/5104214.article)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page could not be accessed, so the critic’s verdict is unavailable. No praise or complaint can be verified from the supplied page text. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/movies/the-neon-demon-review-elle-fanning.html)
- **Radio Times**, Damon Wise (3/5): Wise suggests viewers who prefer Refn’s earlier realism may want to skip the film, while fans of his recent style will find much to engage with. He singles out its graphic, gothic-psychological style as the main appeal. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-0trppn/the-neon-demon/)
- **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (3/5): The three-star rating suggests a mixed verdict on Refn’s fashion-world horror story. The available description singles out its neon-soaked atmosphere, while faulting its emotional substance. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-neon-demon)
- **Total Film**, Jamie Graham (3/5): The review finds the film visually striking but shallow, slow, and ultimately uninvolving. It praises the cinematography and Cliff Martinez’s pulsing score, while noting the film works best as a horror-comedy. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-neon-demon-review/)
- **Empire**, Ian Freer (50/100, inferred): Freer finds the film both tedious and visually dazzling, with its strengths and frustrations making for a mixed verdict. He praises Refn’s striking visual style, while faulting the glacial pacing and lack of character depth. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/neon-demon-review/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Sam C. Mac (2/4): The critic finds the film stylish but ultimately undermined by its exploitative, fetishistic approach. They praise its striking imagery and tense visual set pieces, especially in the first half. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-neon-demon/)
- **Sight and Sound**, Catherine Bray (35/100, inferred): Bray finds the film stylish and intermittently effective, but ultimately lacking staying power. She particularly praises its saturated colours, striking costumes and attention to texture, while faulting its horror for feeling too clean and deodorised. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/neon-demon-first-look)
- **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (35/100, inferred): Gleiberman finds the film visually hypnotic but ultimately underpowered and tonally inconsistent. He praises the motel manager’s knife scene as its most effective moment, while faulting the film’s slipshod storytelling. [Read](https://variety.com/2016/film/festivals/cannes-the-neon-demon-nicolas-winding-refn-elle-fanning-1201778544/)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (30/100, inferred): Lane finds the film visually sumptuous but ultimately shallow and excessive. He singles out its lavish style while objecting to its reliance on graphic, grotesque shocks. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/27/wiener-dog-and-the-neon-demon-reviews)
- **Evening Standard**, David Sexton (15/100, inferred): Sexton finds the film self-indulgent, slow and pompous, despite its striking visual style. He singles out its sumptuous colours and designs as the main virtue. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/cannes-2016-the-neon-demon-film-review-excruciatingly-pompous-about-its-perviness-a3253231.html)
- **Den of Geek**, Ryan Lambie (5/5): Lambie finds the film a dark, unforgettable fairy tale that succeeds as provocative black comedy. He especially praises the performances of Elle Fanning and Jena Malone, along with Refn’s vivid staging and imagery. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-neon-demon-review-2/)
- **Consequence**, Michael Roffman (85/100, inferred): Roffman finds the film a cruel, cynical, and absolutely beautiful thriller, with its tension making Refn’s deliberate pacing worthwhile. He especially praises Elle Fanning’s nuanced performance and the film’s striking visual style. [Read](https://consequence.net/2016/06/film-review-the-neon-demon/)
- **The Skinny**, Jamie Dunn (★★★★): Dunn finds the film visually ravishing but ultimately self-indulgent, with a screenplay too thin to match its style. He singles out Cliff Martinez’s score and Natasha Braier’s photography as its strongest elements. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-neon-demon)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (75/100, inferred): Kermode finds the film’s brutal, visually indulgent take on beauty and the fashion industry compelling. She especially praises Cliff Martinez’s pulsing electronic score and the film’s striking visual beauty. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-neon-demon-2016-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
- **Collider**, Talia Soghomonian (B-): Soghomonian finds the film visually mesmerizing but ultimately self-indulgent, with its horror plot arriving too late. She especially praises the cinematography, score, and meticulously crafted fashion-world imagery. [Read](https://collider.com/the-neon-demon-review/)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (65/100, inferred): Hammond finds the film stylish and striking, though its plot is not especially complex. He praises its vivid visual design and Elle Fanning’s fitting performance, while noting that the final act delivers an unpredictable horror turn. [Read](https://deadline.com/2016/06/the-neon-demon-review-nicolas-winding-refn-elle-fanning-christina-hendricks-1201775994/)
- **/Film**, Slashfilmcast (64/100, inferred): The page labels a segment about the film as a featured review, but gives no verdict. It does not identify any specific praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/545303/filmcast-ep-374-the-neon-demon-guest-britt-hayes-from-screencrush/)
- **Paste**, Michael Snydel (6.4/10): Snydel finds the film visually striking but ultimately unfocused and flat. He praises its singular imagery and Cliff Martinez’s score, while faulting its indecisive story and lack of focus. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-neon-demon)
- **The Playlist** (64/100, inferred): The page could not be accessed, so the critic’s verdict and specific praise or complaints cannot be verified. No review details are available beyond the URL identifying it as a Cannes review of The Neon Demon. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/cannes-review-nicolas-winding-refns-neon-demon-elle-fanning-20160519/)
- **The Wrap** (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the film visually captivating but ultimately shallow and unprovocative. They praise its dazzling imagery while faulting the dialogue and static, self-conscious scenes. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-neon-demon-review/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Jo-Ann Titmarsh (30/100, inferred): Titmarsh finds the film hugely disappointing despite its moments of visual brilliance. She praises Refn’s striking use of colour and light, but faults the storytelling and its treatment of women. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-neon-demon-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Nicolas Winding Refn
- **Director:** Nicolas Winding Refn
- **Screenplay:** Mary Laws, Nicolas Winding Refn, Polly Stenham
- **Story:** Nicolas Winding Refn
- **Cinematography:** Natasha Braier
- **Editor:** Matthew Newman
- **Music:** Cliff Martinez
- **Production design:** Elliott Hostetter
- **Costume design:** Erin Benach
- **Producer:** Vincent Maraval, Sidonie Dumas, Nicolas Winding Refn
- **Cast:** Elle Fanning as Jesse; Karl Glusman as Dean; Jena Malone as Ruby; Bella Heathcote as Gigi; Abbey Lee as Sarah; Desmond Harrington as Jack; Keanu Reeves as Hank; Christina Hendricks as Roberta Hoffmann
- **Runtime:** 1h 58m
- **Certificate (ΓΓΤΕ):** K18
- **Release (Greece):** 6 October 2016
- **Genres:** Horror, Thriller
- **Budget:** $7 million
- **Box office:** $3 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzH7Jc83eQI

## Where to watch in Greece

Not streaming, renting or buying in Greece at the last check.

Also available in: AR, AT, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, FR, GB, IE, IT, JP, MX, NO, NZ, PA, SE, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Suspiria* (1977): Colour and music make an enclosed female institution feel dangerously unreal.
- *Perfect Blue* (1997), Fi1m 82: A performer’s public image becomes a source of increasingly intimate terror. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/perfect-blue.md)
- *Eyes Without a Face* (1960): Beauty becomes a surgical obsession, handled with restraint that makes the horror worse.
- *In Fabric* (2018): Clothes become threatening, while the absurdity of selling them gets its due.
- *Mulholland Drive* (2001), Fi1m 92: Los Angeles ambition turns frightening, with tenderness that makes the cruelty hurt. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/mulholland-drive.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-neon-demon