Presence (2025) Puts You in the Middle of a Haunting Through the Ghost’s POV
Title: Presence
First Non-Festival Release: January 22, 2025 (Theatrical Release)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: David Koepp
Runtime: 84 Minutes
Starring: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
The classic haunted house story has been told a thousand times over making it difficult to break new ground. With so many takes and different angles, true subversions to the formula are far and few between. Steven Soderbergh’s Presence seeks to change that.
When Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan) buy a new house, their minds are occupied with worries of which school district it is assigned. They couldn’t possibly expect that their daughter Chloe (Callina Liang) would sense that something else is already living there. Golden child Tyler (Eddy Maday) just thinks she’s a freak, of course. They soon side with Chloe when the unexplainable phenomena finally becomes undeniable.
Inspired but lacking punch, Presence flips the haunting narrative on its head in some ways but not all.
Known for his experimental filmmaking, director Steven Soderbergh flips the script by putting audiences in the pov of the ghost haunting its home’s new family. By forcing the viewer to engage with the story in a truly omniscient way, Presence allows for multiple angles of its story to play out in a compelling manner. Lingering in rooms for longer than one might expect, the force watching the family takes in the drama unfurling on the screen. Whispers of illicit work activities and outside danger sweep in much like the presence. Soderbergh’s camera glides through the home, offering plenty of visual stimulation while never forgetting exactly whose eyes we are seeing through.
While its approach to its story is novel, the story itself is rather simple. The secret behind the presence itself is never fully explained, but it’s apparent what Soderbergh is going for in Presence. Chloe’s sensitivity to the supernatural allows her to draw a connection to the spirit easier than her family, who only ever seem to notice it when it gets particularly disruptive. This causes a wedge between her and the more skeptical members of her family. Adding in the complex relationship dynamics, Presence ponders the more terrifying consequences of a haunted house may lie in the breakdown of these relationships rather than the ghost itself. One golden child, the other a recluse, a parent driven to success to a fault, the other trying to steer both children in the right direction. There is plenty to be mined in their interactions and how they contribute to the tragic ending.
Light on traditional scares, Presence leans into the tension associated with voyeurism allowing the audience to experience the powerless feeling of watching life pass by without you. Much like a ghost in a story, the audience has no ability to interact with the events onscreen. This is obviously true for all films, but similarly to found footage horror films, the approach Presence takes makes the conflict feel more real since it takes on our direct point of view. At first, it feels odd to watch but then it leans into this discomfort further by making the audience feel like an accomplice to what is happening. Unable to intervene and watching everything in real-time, the combination ups the tension, especially in its haunting final ten minutes. There are very few jump scares in Presence, but for those who get lassoed in by a good slow-burn, they will not be disappointed here.
While its premise is novel, Presence runs into writing and editing issues that colors its overall experience with a feeling of hollowness. Since it is told through the point of view of its titular spirit, Presence does feel limited in the type of story it can tell, and it shows. While most of the threads weave together in the end, a few loose strands make their lack of resolution irritating to say the least. The hard edits give the film this constant feeling of abruptness. Given the way it is filmed, it makes sense why Presence cannot use a variety of different techniques, but it is still jarring all the same.
Haunting without many frights, Presence creeps through its simplistic story with flair. An unusual approach to a ghost story, Presence unsettles through its straightforward approach to real-life horrors by giving them a supernatural edge. Without getting preachy, it touches on a variety of important topics while showcasing how families can pull together during and after a tragedy. It won’t be for everyone, especially those expecting Blockbuster scares, but for those patient and willing to go along for the ride, Presence will offer something far less ephemeral than the average haunted house flick.
Overall Score? 6/10
