Common Sense Media Review
By Jose Solis
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Uninspired thriller with blood, murder, and strong language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Past Life
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In PAST LIFE, Jason (Aneurin Barnard) is a journalist still haunted by the trauma of witnessing militants kill a colleague in Syria six years earlier. Before he's meant to return there, he volunteers to be hypnotized on live TV by celebrity hypnotist Timothy Bevan (Jeremy Piven), who says he can help people access memories from past lives. During the session, Jason sees what appears to be a violent stabbing connected to a previous incarnation, and his pregnant wife, Claira (Pixie Lott), urges him to go back to Bevan for help. Jason and Timothy then begin following clues that seem to connect Jason's visions to a serial killer from the past.
Is It Any Good?
Mediocre and oddly empty, this thriller teases a depth it never delivers. Past Life borrows familiar ideas about trauma, hypnosis, repressed memory, and murder, but it never shapes them into anything especially fresh or gripping. The movie has jump scares and plenty of bloody violence, yet very little of it feels genuinely frightening. Instead, it often plays like a patchwork of better films, like The Manchurian Candidate, leaning on grim imagery and the suffering of women more than on suspense, insight, or originality.
Aneurin Barnard does a lot to hold it together, giving Jason a real sense of damage and vulnerability even when the material around him turns silly or strained. But the rest of the film feels sloppy, especially in the way it handles Claira, who exists mostly to worry about her husband and reflect his crisis back at him. For older teens curious about psychological thrillers, there are far stronger and more imaginative options out there.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the movie shows the impact of trauma. What kind of support does someone need after living through something terrifying?
Where should the ethical boundaries be with hypnosis, especially when a person is vulnerable and not fully in control?
Does the film's violence feel necessary to the story, or does it rely too much on fear and the suffering of women to create suspense?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : March 24, 2026
- Cast : Jeremy Piven , Aneurin Barnard , Pixie Lott
- Director : Simeon Halligan
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Miracle Media
- Genre : Thriller
- Run time : 96 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : March 30, 2026
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