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

Since his ‘retirement’ in 2012, Steven Soderbergh has been as prolific as ever, and indeed this is one of two movies (‘Black Bag’ the other) he has coming out in the first part of 2025. More than any other director, Soderbergh moves between genres effortlessly and ‘Presence’ is a ghost/haunted house movie, with the obvious caveat that this is Soderbergh, so it isn’t quite as straightforward as you might think it’s going to be! The main reason for this is that the movie’s viewpoint comes from the point of view of the ghostly entity itself (or the ‘presence’), which follows the central family around and gives us insight into their lives – a fairly unique approach to the genre.

The movie takes place in a large suburban house where the Payne family live, comprised of mother Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and father Chris (Chris Sullivan), with their two teenage children Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang). There are some cracks in the family foundation, with marriage troubles between Rebecca and Chris, translating to issues in their relationships with their children, most notably Chloe who is struggling to come to terms with the recent death of her best friend. All these elements will prove important in how ‘Presence’ plays out, but it is also fair to say that the opening act is fairly slow until we can sense the pieces falling into place.

One of the things I liked about ‘Presence’ is how it handled the family’s growing awareness of the poltergeist in the house, with their response to evidence of something unusual being fairly realistic to how I’d imagine most folks would react if such a situation did actually occur in real life. Soderbergh wisely channels this primarily through Chloe, who is the heart of the movie, and I felt Camilla Liang was very good and excelled with a couple of strong heart to heart scenes with her father (Chris Sullivan is also pretty good). Another thing I liked, and is something in general Soderbergh is good at, is the runtime which is pretty short at 84 minutes. Of course, a movie does not need to be short, but Soderbergh ensures the movie doesn’t outstay its welcome and you can tell that every shot and scene is relevant instead of adding in superfluous subplots as many of his contemporaries are prone to doing. Steven Soderbergh has made good movies in plenty of different genres so it’s no surprise that he’s more than capable of directing a good supernatural thriller, and after a slow start, I grew to be really impressed by ‘Presence’ and overall, I really liked it.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Julia Fox, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Natalie Woolams-Torres and Lucas Papaelias

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt28249919/