An opening long take of a beautiful and empty dark house sets the mood for the movie “Presence,” just released to theaters by production studio Neon and director Steven Soderbergh (director of “Ocean’s Eleven”) on January 24th.
The movie is set in a suburban home occupied by a poltergeist who oversees the newly moved-in family’s struggles while they begin to suspect they’re not alone.
The movie comprises a series of long takes, scenes that aren’t interrupted or broken by edits but follow the action fluidly. This film style is a seldom-used form of narrative in movies, especially in the horror genre.
With a muted sense of lighting, and nearly no score but the sounds of the family’s turmoil, the movie’s tension slowly builds into a breath-stealing crescendo of well-executed cinematography and storytelling.
The main cast consists of Lucy Liu (“Kill Bill”) playing Rebekah, Chris Sullivan (“This is Us”) playing Chris, Callina Lang playing Chloe and Eddy Maday playing Tyler. The actors all bring a mixture of sympathy and ugly realism to their characters as the action of the movie remains within the confines of the house that watches the fraying of the family right along with the audience.
The camera, acting as the presence, first embodies that of a simple observer, as the audience would be to the events happening in the Payne family house. As the movie goes on, however, personality and expression begin to shine through the camera’s movements and actions as the presence begins to react and even affect the things it’s seeing.
The movie is well worth a watch for those who enjoy the haunted house sub-genre as Presence lives up to its praise as a “uniquely haunting ghost story.” as stated by But Why Tho?’s review. However, the trailer’s lofty claims of “the scariest movie you’ll see this year” and “flips the haunted house genre on its head” as Dread Central claimed, are a bit of a stretch.
“[The director and screenwriters] ask us to be unnerved and rattled by a collapsing shelf and a glass of orange juice that falls off the edge of a table.” said Esquire, in their review of the movie ran on Jan 23 and went on to call it “elevated horror”, another term for horror movies that aren’t scary.
Those used to the jumpscares and ghouls of other haunted house movies might find the slow build of tension and general lack of anything like a jumpscare not to their taste. However, “Presence” still lives up to its claim as a horror movie, if a more subtle and insidious one in nature.
From the Forth Row, a movie review website calls it more of a “family drama with a ghost involved” but assures as well it’s still very good at holding audience attention and investment, despite misleading advertisement.
At only 85 minutes long, it isn’t a story that stretches out needlessly, it’s a supernatural snapshot of a normal family dealing with drama and a little more than they bargained for in the interest of a fresh start. With an ending that will likely have some viewers wanting to rewind and start over again from the beginning in the same vein as “The“Sixth Sense” and “Shutter Island.” Presence comes with a high recommendation for those who prefer a more bloodless and human horror experience.
