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January 23, 2025
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January 24, 2025The Millers are having a bad day. In Steven Soderbergh’s taut spectral thriller, though the Millers have just moved into their dream house, it may be the stuff of nightmares. In a slow burning yet captivating film that uses POV directing, Presence is a film that may be overshadowed by its gimmickry.
It’s an easy task to do. We’ve seen it done well in features like Nickel Boys (2024) where the POV was mixed with over the shoulder camera work to keep the effect without leading to fatigue. Soderbergh acted as director, editor and cinematographer. He’s especially adept at slow paced, creeping films that hold secrets within its frames. Presence is one of those films, but it may be a bit too nuanced for the average viewer.

In Neon’s Presence, we follow the Miller family, which consists of Rebecca (Lucy Liu), Chris (Chris Sullivan), Tyler (Eddy Maday), and Chloe (Callina Liang). They’ve moved to a beautiful new house for a fresh start. After a decent amount of time in the house, Chloe begins to experience strange phenomena in the house. After an incident makes the apparent haunting more clear, the Millers must decide how to deal with the supernatural in a world where it was never meant to exist.
There are so many good parts and choices made in Presence. But Soderbergh – who excels at thrillers, but is unused to horror – has a tough time with the rules. While normally “in” for “slice of life” or drop-in films where the viewer just pops into someone’s life, Soderbergh does it with a casual nature that feels slightly trite. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fun film and it will keep you guessing until the end, but it may also leave you feeling a bit empty inside.
There are details missing. We get glimpses of the marital issues between Rebecca and Chris, but are they caused by actual issues or by “Rebecca’s Secret.” And if it’s the latter, then the audience needs to be aware of what the stakes are. The family appears to be divided between Chloe and Chris, and Tyler and Rebecca (they both harbor a selfishness that seems to run in the family). This leads to wonderfully insightful and bonding scenes between Chloe and Chris, but to slightly nonsensical “pep talks” from Rebecca to Tyler. Tyler is a bit of a jerk, but we don’t really understand why. He tells stories of ways he’s been an absolute bully and only Chloe and Chris question him while Rebecca coddles him and waves off his actions.
In this family there lies a fascinating character study where we understand Chloe, we understand Rebecca’s standoffish attitude towards her, and whether they chose to move, or had to. But in trying to navigate a ghoulish tale – bringing in a psychic Lisa (with a wonderful and woefully underused performance from Natalie Woolams-Torres) – Soderbergh runs head first into horror tropes that aren’t his style. I want to see a Steven Soderbergh horror film; I am a little less interested in seeing Panic Room (2002) now with ghosts!

I don’t think screenplay writer David Koepp ventured to turn a Soderbergh thriller into a horror film for funsies, I believe the ghost element in regards to the point of view is really cool. But it shouldn’t be at the expense of the story being believable and accessible. Koepp also worked on Ghost Town (2008), and a little more recently the underrated You Should Have Left (2020), so he’s familiar with how to craft a ghost story.
So why doesn’t this work? My opinion is that they took a tried and true story with a generic family and then added first person POV to modernize it. It’s good, but it’s not Soderbergh good. And maybe there’s a deeper connection that I’m not appreciating. Maybe there’s a reason Liu was given so little to do which left her performance lacking. The mother of the film is pretty much non-existent while Chris carries the weight of being the heart and empathy. Liang’s performance is very good, but we don’t know enough about her to understand why she makes the choices she does.
Once these performances begin to lose their latency, it’s only a matter of time until every other question becomes unearthed. We realize they moved, but it doesn’t seem to be far away, however new schools and new friends are added to the mix? The ghost rules are constantly rewritten in real time so we never quite understand what the ghost’s abilities are. There are entire plot lines that are just discarded, and that may be the point, but again, it’s not enough.
That said, while watching, I did enjoy the film. It’s a good film with an ending that’s sure to spark conversation. There was a mixture of theater elements along with cinematic elements that gave the movie the same feel as an interactive play. This is a positive notion since the audience takes on the perspective of the ghost. The spirit doesn’t seem to be able to leave the house so everything is done there. They make great use of every room of the house and it’s beautifully done.

If you’re looking for a scary horror story, I wouldn’t recommend this film. If anything, Presence is a film about being haunted by the ghosts of decisions past and a mystery of all the choices that went unmade. It’s a slow burn, but that’s nothing new for Soderbergh and he guides the film with a focused hand. I do recommend seeing it, but it will be best enjoyed if you just shut off your mind, and get into the spirit of the film.
Movie Rating: 7/10
Presence is now playing in theaters.