Review
PRESENCE – Review
By Michelle McCue and Marc Butterfield
Director Steven Soderbergh has returned to the big screen with a riveting tale of a haunting in his latest movie, PRESENCE.
Coming in at 85 minutes, this ghost story is unlike anything you’ll see all year. An unusual, unnerving, and heart-wrenching thriller, it stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Eddy Maday and Callina Liang.
Filmed from the supernatural being’s POV, the presence is there before the family even moves into their new home. It witnesses this dysfunctional family’s most intimate uncomfortable moments. It navigates the family’s new house at supernatural speed. It pays unusual attention to Chloe, who’s two friends have mysteriously died, and who’s neither her mother’s, Rebekah, nor her brother’s, Tyler, favorite. It’s only her father, Chris, who supports her and believes her story that she senses something in the house, especially her bedroom. This ghost wants and needs something and as time goes on, the presence pieces together how it might accomplish its goal.
PRESENCE is the second film collaboration of Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp, first being the 2022 KIMI. The movie is in the same vein as THE SIXTH SENSE, THE OTHERS and A GHOST STORY. Audiences should not go into this with thoughts of THE CONJURING or INSIDIOUS and its assuredly not a found footage film akin to PARANORMAL ACTIVITY or BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. This is not a by-the-numbers horror movie.
Soderbergh has said in an interview, “Presence came out of when we were talking about doing a remake of the 1944 ghost movie The Uninvited. And after coming up with some really fun stuff, we abandoned that over the third act reveal.”
Both Soderbergh and Koepp have had their own real-life brushes with what could be the supernatural.
“Presence grew out of something that happened in the house I own with Jules [Asner, Soderbergh’s wife] in Los Angeles. It is a true fact that somebody died in this 4 house before we moved in. It is a rumor that the person that died in this house was a mother, killed by her daughter. We were aware of this when we bought the house. From that point on, there were the occasional weird “Did I turn that light off?” moments. I never felt threatened by this. I wasn’t afraid of it. It didn’t really register at all. And it probably would’ve just kind of petered out if not for the fact that we had a house sitter who was watching TV one evening; there’s a long hallway that leads to the bedroom, and this person felt some sort of presence, looked up, and saw the figure of a woman cross the end of the hallway into the bedroom. The house sitter instinctively shouted Jules’ name. And immediately realized Jules wasn’t there. That’s why they’re house sitting. And she immediately called Jules. Who then relayed what we had heard. And the house sitter responded, “ Why didn’t you tell me that?” When I hear such stories, I think, “Why doesn’t this stuff happen to me? This sounds super exciting.” And I began thinking along the lines of a presence in a house, and the new person or people come into the house, how would the presence feel about that? I wrote that up, roughly, and sent it to David.”
Koepp added, “For a time I lived in Langham in New York. A big creepy old building on 74th and Central Park West. I was watching TV one night and looked down a hall and saw a figure move past when no one should have been there. And I never had an experience like that. I found it really weird and striking because no one was down there and surely I saw a figure cross the end of the hall. Several months later I mentioned it to my then 17-year-old son, Nick. “Oh yeah, I had this thing when I saw,” and before I finished he says, “At the end of the hall, down from the living room.” And I was like, no way.”
During the film, the family calls in someone who can feel spirits and it’s in these scenes where the exposition between the family and this psychic hints at how and why their house is haunted. This ghost she can sense is a little fearful, doesn’t know when and where they are — hides in Chloe’s closet a lot and is also very curious. This is a movie where the script and the brilliant words from Koepp are very important and he plays by typical “ghost” rules, which leads to a jaw dropping ending.
It explains a lot that Soderbergh’s mother was a parapsychologist. “if you want to picture my mom, she’s Beatrice Straight in Poltergeist. Not only did she kind of look like Beatrice Straight, but she wasn’t in the least bit loony. She was a normal person, but her whole life revolved around these kinds of explorations. I’ve also had to acknowledge things that have happened in my life that have been odd and synchronous in a way that is hard to account,” says Soderberg.
Directed, edited and filmed by Soderbergh, another element is the score that effectively sets the tone and mood. It’s not the type of score you would expect from a supernatural thriller with loud booming, jump scare-like cues and bravo to composer Zack Ryan for not taking that typical trope with his sobering piano motifs. Take a listen to the film’s haunting soundtrack, featuring original score: http://soundtracks.lnk.to/presence
Theater goers will be discussing the movie long after the credits have rolled and Soderbergh’s use of long, methodical tracking shots of the ghost wandering around, doing poltergeist things and preventing disaster is really inspired. It demands repeat viewings. Ultimately the film fascinatingly explores grief, loneliness, regret and redemption through authentic, dynamic performances, culminating in a genius, yet emotional ending. PRESENCE is the first must-see film of 2025.
RATING: 4 out of 4 Stars
PRESENCE is in theaters now.
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