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Get A Grip
Project type
Movie
Watch On
Netflix on March 13th, 2026
Status
In-Development
Get a Grip unfolds as a psychological thriller and intimate tragedy, blending the haunting naturalism of 1970s British cinema with the visceral subjectivity of modern psychological drama.
England, summer 1976. The country swelters under a record drought as ex-naval veteran Norman “Norm” Mills begins to unravel. Haunted by flashes of the final days of the Pacific War in 1945, fearful of his teenage son Nicholas joining the Royal Air Force, and trapped in the routines of small-town East Midlands life, a plastic shopping bag factory and his wife’s amateur production of Kiss Me, Kate, Norm is suddenly confronted by a naval comrade he prayed he would never see again, a man who could expose a dark secret buried for over thirty years.
As torment escalates and sanity disintegrates, the heatwave becomes a fever dream of guilt, repression, and inherited trauma. With reality blurring, Norm must face the shame of PTSD and protect his family from the sadistic veteran, or himself, or both.
Director
James Watkins
Location
Lincolnshire, England — The East Midlands
Theme
Tonally, Get a Grip is a Hitchcockian thriller for modern-day audiences. The net tightens around Norm as Lieutenant Hardwicke amps up his campaign of terror against him. With every act of destruction, his family and neighbours become more convinced that Norm is losing it. He must stop Lieutenant Hardwicke and get a grip on his PTSD hallucinations and paranoia, differentiating which is which, before it’s too late.
Vision
Get a Grip is deeply personal to me. Norm, Joan, and Nicholas are drawn directly from my grandparents and my dad; the dynamics, the humour, and some elements of the film come from my family’s lives and the memories I grew up hearing about in the North End of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. Times of great joy and hardship existed in equal measure.