PRESENCE (2024)

Streaming on Hulu from NEON Films!
Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Written by David Koepp.
Check out the trailer here!!

Told from the perspective of an unnamed spirit floating around the rooms of a house about to be bought by a family, made up of father Chris (played by THIS IS US’s Chris Sullivan), mother Rebekah (played by Lucy Liu), son Tyler (Eddy Maday), and daughter Chloe (Callina Liang). As the family moves into the home, it is apparent that there are some serious problems going on. Rebekah is involved in some kind of illegal scheme that her husband knows about, but is attempting to steer clear of. Tyler is trying to fit into a new school and has some serious anger issues that he unfortunately unleashes upon his sister Chloe. And Chloe recently lost her best friend who died of a drug overdose. We learn about all of this drama and more as the ghostly entity floats from one conversation to the next without being noticed by the family. But as danger nears Chloe, the entity, which seems to have formed a strong bond with the young girl, struggles to prevent tragedy from happening to this troubled family.

PRESENCE is an ambitious yet flawed little film that could only be made by a seasoned filmmaker like Steven Soderbergh. While I don’t always love what Soderbergh does, I do admire his attempt to tell different kinds of stories from brand new perspectives. Sure, we’ve seen films made from the perspective of the monster before, but Soderbergh commits to the bit and makes sure this forced perspective is used for the entire film without any cheats. And that’s impressive to me.

I’ve seen criticisms that say PRESENCE is not actually a horror movie. And I understand where these folks come from. This film is heavy on the family conflict. It fleshes out four characters that feel fully realized with good and bad parts. If anything, this is a movie that shows how we all can be very ugly people behind the closed doors of our homes. Most of the characters have some really bad traits that we see through the floating eyes of this entity. Rebekah favors Tyler and doesn’t seem very hesitant to make that clear to everyone, even Chloe. Chris knows Rebekah was out of his league, but she was looking for stability, so she chose him. Tyler is an angry young man, impatient with his sister’s grief process and rebellious from Chris’ orders to be nicer to her. And Chloe is making some very reckless decisions as she deals with the death of her friend. All of this could make for some pretty thick melodrama, and it does. But every time we get a scene of drama between members of this family, it is punctuated with a reminder that we are getting all of this from the perspective of a ghost.

One of the things that needs to be mentioned are the roles each family member takes. While this seems like the perfect nuclear family. It is problematic to the core with all kinds of dysfunction. Liu’s Rebekah is not a pretty role, but she gives her the same kind of authority she often exudes, yet seems like a cup filled to the brim about to spill at any moment. The kids characters are nice and depthy as well. But what impressed me the most was the performance of Chris Sullivan as Chirs, the father of the family. I am so used to seeing the bumbling, clueless father role in pretty much every TV and movie, but Sullivan plays against type and offers up the most complex role of the film. He is understanding to his daughter, patient with his wife, and stern but loving to his son. While he gets the brunt of the abuse from Rebekah and Tyler, he remains sturdy. Bless this film for going against the tired Hollywood trope of the Homer Simpson style father. More films and TV should take note of the nuanced and strong role Sullivan plays in PRESENCE.

Soderbergh’s camera swoops and twirls through this elegant house, transitioning from one conversation to another. But every movement of the camera seems to have purpose. We are getting just enough information for us to understand what is happening, though not everyone in the house is privy to all angles of this information. I won’t go into the details of the danger Chloe is in, but it is serious, and only the ghost seems to know the whole story, putting the ghost, like the viewer in the frustrating and often excruciating position of being forced to watch these bad things escalate.

Now, as I said, this isn’t a perfect film. The threat to Chloe is extremely cliché and I could see it coming from a mile away as well as a major revelation about one character’s motivations with her. I could even take this cliched situation if it were written well, but the dangerous character in question spouts some of the worst dialog I’ve heard from a villain this side of an old Popeye cartoon. It’s just plain bad, from the delivery to the words said that explains way too much for the cheap seats.

But and that’s a big ol’ but, this leads to one of the smartest and most emotionally devastating revelations in the final five minutes I’ve ever seen in a movie. The way this films wraps up is shocking, comes out of nowhere, yet is something I feel I should have picked up on from the get go, but didn’t. It gives me chills just thinking about it. It’s one of those revelations that will make you immediately want to restart the movie and watch it again, now knowing what you know. That’s all I will say, but for every fault this film has, and it has a few in terms of dialog and cliched motivation of the “villain,” the ending makes up for it big time.

Unique concept, strong performances, and an ending that made my jaw drop so far I could taste my toes. That’s what PRESENCE has going for it. While it does have scares occasionally, the film combines melodrama and horror in interesting and fresh ways. I avoided this film at first, but once I did end up seeing it not long ago, I appreciate it for the thrilling and frighteningly meaningful film PRESENCE truly is.