Past Life (2025) is a psychological thriller from director Simeon Halligan, the head of Grimmfest and the filmmaker behind White Settlers and The Blood Lands. Written by Halligan alongside Ray Bogdanovich and Dean Lines, the film stars Aneurin Barnard (Peaky Blinders, Dunkirk) as traumatised war journalist Jason Frey, Jeremy Piven (Entourage, Mr Selfridge) as celebrity hypnotist Timothy Bevan, and Pixie Lott (Christmas Karma, Fred: The Movie) as Jason's pregnant wife, Claira. 

After premiering at Grimmfest 2025, it landed in UK cinemas on March 20, 2026, with a digital release following on April 6. 

The film starts with two British journalists being held captive by ISIS in Syria six years before the main events of the film. When the woman, Jane Carter (Lucinda Sinclair), refuses to read a prepared message on camera, her captors demand that Jason Frey (Aneurin Barnard) force her to comply. When he refuses, the torture begins. It's a brutally effective opening, paired with a booming score that immediately sets the tone. The credits roll over newspaper clippings documenting Jason and Jane's time covering conflict in the Middle East, each one dropping a small, inconspicuous breadcrumb for what's to come.

After that, the film shifts gears. Claira (Pixie Lott) and Jason prepare to attend a late-night talk show featuring a hypnotist. Seeing Pixie Lott pop up was a genuine surprise, and she holds her own beautifully. During the show, after a few muttered "bullshit" comments from Jason, dismissing it all as a con, hypnotist Timothy Bevan (Jeremy Piven) calls him up on stage and opens up something far deeper than expected. Rather than simply revisiting trauma, Jason is led somewhere far more unsettling. Visually, this is where the film really comes alive. Under hypnosis, he finds himself standing in a corridor of his own subconscious, opening doors that should probably have stayed shut. When he goes too far into one, all hell breaks loose and spills straight into the real world.

From here, the film builds into a psychological thriller with a bit of slasher thrown in for good measure. Jason becomes obsessed with what he's seen, seeking out Bevan again to dig deeper, while Claira is left trying to understand what's happening to the man she loves, all while preparing for their child. The tension between past trauma, past-life exploration, and present reality is handled well. The dark colour palette, heavy reds, and foreboding score create an atmosphere that pulls you right in.

About an hour and fifteen minutes in, I thought I had it all figured out. I didn't. Then I thought I had it again. Still wrong. And honestly, I loved that. The performances are strong across the board, and it keeps enough surprises up its sleeve to stay engaging right through to the end.

Past Life deserves a lot of attention. It's tense, twisty, and has just enough gore to keep horror fans happy, but it's the storytelling that really carries it for me. Get the popcorn out, lock the doors, turn the lights off and settle down for this.