A mysterious Past Life….
We’ve never really been convinced of those stage hypnotists who regress their subject to a past life. We’re even less convinced of the people who allow themselves to be ‘regressed’ solely because they always seem to have been a member of royalty or famous face. No one ever regresses to being a sewage worker or a chemical weapons engineer or a vivisectionist.
But the thriller Past Life sees Manchester journalist Jason (Aneurin Barnard) traumatized by a murder at the hands of jihadi’s in Syria. So quite why he allows himself to hypnotized on live TV by Timothy Bevan (Jeremy Piven) is anyone’s guess and is about as good an idea as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor at his daughter’s birthday party urging her friends to play spin the bottle
Past Life, Past mystery
For Jason the result is traumatizing as he regresses to a moment in time where he appears to stab a woman to death making this the worst moment on TV since Andy Gray was given an open tab at the hospitality bar before commentating at the Women’s England football final. But even worse an idea is when Jason’s pregnant wife Claira (Pixie Lott) persuades him to return to Bevan’s private offices and regress him again in order to lock that particularly traumatizing door to his memory for good. What could go wrong?
Regress to a rampage?
But journo and hypno instead use the memories to track down and identify the serial killer of his mind in a series of giallo inspired POV shots to the sounds of wailing blues music in an effectively creepy manner. In the course of their investigation they liaise with a true crime podcaster Elliot Read (Nicholas Farrell) and cross the path of a psychology lecturer played by Tim McInnerny.
Their enquiries become more ambiguous as to who the serial killer might be and why and there are coincidences and contrivance that disrupt the final act. That the film also resorts to flashbacks in order to further illustrate what has already been explained feels unnecessary padding.
But Past Life is an entertaining enough thriller as much for Piven, Farrell and the fleeting scenes that McInnerny appears and there’s enough red herrings to keep you guessing to the end.
related feature : Machine gunning dinosaurs – Jeremy Piven talks ‘Primitive War’ !
related feature : We take a look at, ‘Dead in a week’ starring Aneurin Barnard and the late great Tom Wilkinson
We chatted to Nicholas Farrell about the film and what went on behind the scenes…
Here’s the trailer….
Past Life is released on digital on 6th April 2026 courtesy of Miracle Media
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