Film Review: PRESENCE (2024): Steven Soderbergh Falters with a Creepy but Dull Would-Be Horror Movie

Presence Review

Presence (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by David Koepp and starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, Julia Fox, West Mulholland, Lucas Papaelias, Daniel Danielson, Natalie Woolams-Torres, Benny Elledge and Jared Wiseman.

Director Steven Soderbergh’s Presence is almost a complete miscalculation. In the past, I’ve given passing marks to ultra-low-budget horror movies like Skinamarink which took big risks, but Soderbergh is a master craftsman who is capable of something much more than what Presence turns out to actually be. Soderbergh deserves credit for trying to do something different but the (mostly) unlikable characters and dull, repetitive nature of some of the scenes undermines the integrity of what the director was trying to accomplish.

Lucy Liu plays a businesswoman named Rebekah who moves her family into a new home which has just found itself on the market. She has some problems with her husband Chris (Chris Sullivan) but Rebekah is determined to see her son Tyler (a very good Eddy Maday) excel as she sort of turns away from her daughter, Chloe (Callina Liang), who has just lost a good friend named Nadia.

Those are the characters employed here. Now, it’s time to discuss the “gimmick” of the movie. This film is told from the point-of-view of the presence. Well, that’s what it feels like although the camera basically sits there and just shoots the action with occasional disruptions that are chalked up to the possibility of being the “presence.” There’s seemingly a spirit living in the house Rebekah and her family has moved into.

Ryan (West Mulholland) is Tyler’s friend who takes an interest in Chloe. Ryan is a particularly annoying character, and he is supposed to be. It becomes frustrating to see him try to manipulate Chloe who is obviously suffering from some sort of depression or mental illness. This movie employs things that make you go hmmm as events get in the way of other events that could make one believe the spirit is, in some strange way, helping Chloe.

Julia Fox serves as a real estate agent named Cece. She tries to console Chris about the nature of the creepiness found in his and Rebekah’s new home. A medium (Natalie Woolams-Torres) arrives to navigate the situation. However, the ultimate creepiness is found in the film’s male character, Ryan, who is more sinister than he appears to be.

There’s a lot going on in this film. Lucy Liu emerges with the best performance in the picture as the too good to be true, Rebekah, who neglects her family, at times, for her job. This movie’s lack of variation of shots definitely hurts the film. The dialogue is not so well-written but the actors, particularly Liu and Sullivan, handle it well by bringing more to the table than what is on the page. Still, Soderbergh’s style here leaves much to be desired and will not please horror movie fans. If one is obsessed with the supernatural, one may be compelled to sit through this movie until the end, but most people will abandon ship long before the shocking conclusion.

This film’s younger performers fare pretty well, particularly Callina Liang as Chloe. She decodes the mysterious events that occur here, and Liang’s smart performance could keep the film relatable to those who believe in the supernatural. All others may be baffled by the movie’s intentions as it goes back uneasily between events, leaving Liu and Sullivan’s roles underdeveloped as characters even though the performances are indeed strong.

Presence is a difficult film to watch because of the way it was made. Skinamarink was an experimental horror movie just like Presence is, but that picture had more going on because you never knew what to expect from shot-to-shot. There’s a certain level of incompetency within the making of Presence. This film expects a lot from its audience. If one just watches the film, it’s impossible to make sense of it. It requires too much work to decode who or what the presence is and what its real purpose is. Presence would like us to feel invested in the characters, but they are so uninteresting at times that the movie almost self-destructs halfway through.

If one feels compelled to find out what happens to the family in the film, it may be worth seeing the way Presence concludes but it felt like the film was just starting to get intriguing when the ending arrives. Soderbergh is a fine filmmaker but, perhaps, this time out, he bit off more than he could chew. More than a character or two literally goes out the window at the end. Soderbergh’s credibility as a director sadly does in some respects as well. Horror movies like this can occasionally be fun but, unfortunately, Presence is much more frustrating than it needed to be.

Rating: 5.5/10

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