Presence review: Sodebergh's unique, creepy and moving ghost story will give you goosebumps
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Steven Soderbergh’s latest is a haunted house story told from the ghost’s point of view. Or rather, seen through the ghost’s POV; the director filmed the entire thing on a handheld camera himself which means we only see the things play out from the perspective of the Presence.
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Now before going into the film, I was worried that this style would ruin the horror: after all, how can you be scared of what’s coming if you are what’s coming. But it turns out this isn’t a horror film, not really. It’s a mystery, a family drama, a supernatural nouveau-Poe tale.
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The results are a film that’s certainly creepy but also moving, and the two come together in a twist that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end (quick shout-out to David Lynch, whose ‘monster’ behind the diner in Mulholland Drive was the last shock to produce this effect, along with a bit of a jaw drop).
At the start of the film, we as the Presence wander around an empty home in what looks from the windows to be a nice suburban American town. We are interrupted by the arrival of Julia Fox – yes, that one – an estate agent. She lets in a family: Rebekah (Lucy Liu), Chris (Chris Sullivan), Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang). The presence is immediately drawn to Chloe, and she briefly seems to register it.
