Presence - Review 

Rating: 4 out of 5

YOU can always count on director Steven Soderbergh to offer something interesting, even when experimenting.

Hence, for every mainstream crowd pleaser such as Ocean’s 11 or Out of Sight, there’s something more risky or subversive such as The Girlfriend Experience, Side Effects or Kimi waiting in the wings.

Presence is Soderbergh’s first entry into horror. But it’s not designed to offer cheap jump thrills or unnecessary slasher gore. Instead it takes a classic haunted house genre trope and turns it on its head, combining elements of family drama and psychological thriller too.

Indeed, the film is shot from the point of view of its ghost (with Soderbergh serving as both director and cinematographer, using his camera as the eyes of the audience). This presence is more like an observer and eavesdropper, prone to the odd supernatural feat.

Soderbergh doesn’t shy away from unsettling viewers and there are sequences that play to more traditional genre elements (early on, a decorator is observed as having refused to enter the room the presence is in, while we witness the ghost making things go bump in the night and day).

But the presence seems to exist more as a protector… the reasons for which become clear as the story progresses.

As the film opens, we get a ghost’s eye view of an unoccupied home, which is shortly to become the home of Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and her family: star-athlete son Tyler (Eddy Maday), grieving, introverted daughter Chloe (Callina Liang) and her husband (Chris Sullivan), who is struggling to keep everything and everyone together.

It’s Chloe who seems most aware of the presence, and who it seems most protective of - particularly in light of the death of her best friend from a drug overdose.

The presence therefore intervenes whenever Chloe seems to be in danger, especially once Tyler’s new friend Ryan (West Mulholland) begins to take a romantic interest in her.

But as the presence becomes more bold in this, so other family members become aware and a psychic is called into the mix to try and figure things out.

Without revealing too much more, much of the fun lies in trying to figure out the motivations and identity of the presence, while there’s also a certain kind of tension in waiting to see how it will react to escalating situations and, indeed, whether it is operating from the good intentions it appears to be.

There is a twist or two, which guarantees the film a conversation or two afterwards.

And it’s consistently well performed and intelligently written (David Koepp reuniting with Soderbergh after their work on Kimi). Indeed, the film isn’t just concerned with scaring people and gives them plenty to think about too.

Issues of grief and toxic masculinity are also confronted, lending the film a contemporary urgency that further provides room for post-viewing discussion.

But then this is a Soderbergh trait: his films regularly offer so much more than their face value suggests.

Presence is another innovative entry into a consistently high quality career.

Certificate: 15

Running time: 85mins