Presence (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – A family becomes convinced they are not alone after moving into their new home in the suburbs.

My Take – Known for his Oscar wins and for helming the ‘Ocean’s‘ trilogy, Steven Soderbergh is indeed an auteur filmmaker and one of the best in the business. But what truly separates him from his peers is his insatiable desire to push film-making boundaries. Time and again he has evolved his skill-set by stepping outside his comfort zone and divulging in a variety of genres.

For his latest experiment he has once again teamed up with screenwriter David Koepp, following the maddeningly underseen thriller Kimi (2022), to create an interesting and unique take on the classic ghost stories of the past. A haunted house story that is told completely from the specter’s point of view. Allowing the audience to experience the narrative through its eyes, without seeing it or knowing what it’s thinking.

But while the trailer sets it up a standard horror feature and touts itself to be the “scariest film you’ll see all year,” it is never actually scary in the traditional sense, instead working more as a psychological drama with mystery and supernatural elements. With the end result being pretty much what one would expect from a Soderbergh directed horror film to be: an oddly satisfying, subtle, intimate, slow-burn mystery-suspense tale and a dark family drama, albeit one witnessed by a ghost.

Sure, it touches on heavy themes like teen mental health and the fentanyl crisis, thankfully it avoids sounding like a PSA, focusing more on its raw, emotional story. Also, yes, it is not quite as revolutionary as some critics have made it out to be, mainly as it seems to be stop just before reaching its full potential. Yet, it is entertaining and different enough to deserve appreciation.

The story follows the Paynes, a family of four consisting of Chris (Chris Sullivan), Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and their teenage children, arrogant swim team champ Tyler (Eddy Maday) and younger, sensitive Chloe (Callina Liang), who move into a large suburban house. Chloe has recently experienced the tragic loss of her best friend Nadia and has grown a bit more withdrawn and tormented. While Tyler has a lot going for him as the golden child of the family, and Rebecca’s obvious favorite.

Unbeknownst to them, there is a supernatural presence inhabiting their home and Chloe can somehow feel it. The family may live under the same roof, but they may as well be worlds apart because of how out of tune they have been recently. So it’s easy for them to dismiss Chloe’s weird feelings, attributing them to her grief over her closest friend’s death. But as the paranormal activity ramps up, the family can no longer deny what’s happening and are suddenly forced to wrestle with what the presence wants, and whether it’s a harbinger of something much worse.

Running for a tightly-paced 85 minutes, revealing just enough to keep you hooked, the film is shot entirely from the ghost’s perspective and the narrative immerses you in a fractured family story told through haunting, single-take scenes. Most of the time, the experiment really works, as questions over who the spirit might be linger along with its intentions, even though clarification over what genre we’re even in remaining fascinatingly murky.

While the plot might not break new ground in terms of horror, it’s the execution that sets the film apart. Gliding around the house, director Soderbergh has fun finding ways to involve us in the story, snippets and observations building up an unusual image of a family in trouble. The standout aspect here being the atmosphere. Every creak, shadow, and eerie silence heightens the suspense, making you feel like something terrifying could happen at any moment.

Here, writer Koepp’s script is much more interested in what these characters are going through than any cheap scares that you’d otherwise find in a haunted house flick. The tragedy that has struck Chloe and how that impacts the family’s viewpoint of her and one another make everything feel fairly familiar.

In that regard, the film doesn’t necessarily bring anything new. Even the titular presence’s behavior is arguably not consistent; having protected Chloe from something terrible early on, it is perhaps not entirely clear, in the moment, why the ghost doesn’t do this a second time when Chloe is in bigger danger next time around. A loop hole, probably left alone to create the final, terrible denouement. And Soderbergh directs it all with flair and pace: low budget, high intelligence in the way we have come to expect from him.

Performance wise, Lucy Liu is her terrific self, using her trademarks to flesh out a mother really blind to the needs of her own daughter, because she’s obsessed with the well-being of her other favorite child. ‘This is Us‘ breakout Chris Sullivan plays his role with a warmth and frustration that makes you automatically connect to him. Eddy Maday is decent as the insensitive teen who is convinced he has a great future ahead.

However, the breakout performance here really goes to Callina Liang, who really sells her character’s complex and tortured mindset. West Mulholland slips between being average and completely hamming it up. Julia Fox too appears for a single scene and leaves before she could leave an actual mark. On the whole, ‘Presence‘ is a unique little ghost story that makes for a tense and unsettling experience.