Presence is a 2025 Ghost Story/Family Drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh, and the cast includes Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Julia Fox and Natalie Woolams-Torres
The idea behind the film is fairly fresh and unique, as it is a haunted house story, and, you’re seeing it all from the ghost’s point of view, a bit like what In A Violent Nature did for seeing it from the killers POV, and like that film, this one is going to be very divisive I think.
I really liked the way the film is shot and sure, it feels a bit amateurish, but I digged it, seeing the camera move smoothly from room to room, like it’s gliding on air in one continuous shot, fading in and out, which makes you actually feel like you’re the actual ghost, and I kept thinking about what I would do....
And no, you don’t see the ghost either, as it’s just the camera drifting around, being all floaty and acting like a nosy neighbor, listening in on conversations and hovering around like it’s got nothing better to do.
You’re not just watching this family, you’re practically haunting them, and it’s such a weird, unsettling feeling, like you’re snooping where you’re not supposed to.
The family at the center of it all are a bit of a mess too, obviously, it’s a haunted house movie, so you know they’ve all got their problems.
Lucy Liu is the mom, a professional who’s got some legal issues she’s hiding from her husband and kids, and she also has a weirdly intense connection with her son Tyler, and that part of things was just all a bit odd.
Tyler is the loud, athletic one who’s full of himself, and his sister Chloe is the quiet, grieving one. who is dealing with the death of a friend who overdosed, so she’s got that dark cloud over her.
Then there’s the dad, Chris, who is also clearly struggling with something, and it feels like this family is one argument away from completely falling apart as you watch them.
As mentioned above, there aren’t any jump scares or moments where you’re clutching your popcorn in fear, but it’s kind of creepy at times, such as in the way the camera lingers, the way it feels like you’re watching something private and I don't know about you, it just felt a bit creepy.
But the real horror in Presence is humanity itself, and the film does attempt to have a real human feel to it and attempts to give it all some depth, and it's a film that concentrates more on that human side of things.
The acting is OK, but it never really goes above that and it is something in this kind of film that can help have a big impact on the feeling the film wants you to have, but it never really overly delivers, but Callina Liang as Chloe, and Chris Sullivan as the Dad being the standouts, and also the dad puts in a film dad of the year contender already, and as far as the dialogue goes, he got the best of it, as a lot of the dialogue in the film isn't great either and a bit off putting.
I would have liked to have been more emotionally invested in the characters then I was too, and despite what the film was going for in that aspect, I felt it didn't really give me enough for the most part, and a lot of potential in the family conflict dynamics was left untapped, and more could have been done on the character development side of things.
The film is also intentionally vague if you don't like that kind of thing, it's all just being built up and built around the ending that is to come, but it also feels like some plot points just don't get resolved, and no, I am not talking about the intentional red herrings, it is mainly around the Mom, and some of it feels like it is there to pad up the run time, which is already quite short in the first place, but it does feel quite padded at times, too.
As for the ending, no spoilers will be written, so it's hard to say too much without spoiling it, and its fair to say the film is very much a slow burn, but if you stick with it, I think the ending worked fairly well, and is a film that will warrant some discussion, and a film where I think the ending saves it in a big way.
Overall though, I think Presence is an interesting experiment, and it’s definitely something a bit different, and while I found things to like, I also have mixed feelings too.
But I think for me, the lack of investment in the characters really hindered it, though, and if you can get more on board with that side of things, you will probably get more out of it.
The kitchen was gorgeous, though. [Presence on IMDB]