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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 22.Jan.25

Presence
Review by Rich Cline | 3.5/5

dir Steven Soderbergh
scr David Koepp
prd Julie M Anderson, Ken Meyer
with Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Natalie Woolams-Torres, Lucas Papaelias, Julia Fox, Benny Elledge, Daniel Danielson, Jared Wiseman
release US/UK 24.Jan.25
24/US 1h25

SUNDANCE FILM FEST
TORONTO FILM FEST

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Although billed as horror, this is actually an unusually quiet ghost story that centres around emotional undercurrents rather than anything supernaturally scary. That isn't to say that there's no tension, as the story features a properly nasty turn of events. Director Steven Soderbergh uses a clever point-of-view style of filmmaking, which makes the movie remarkably soft-spoken and intimate, like a fly-on-the-wall doc about a family facing something inexplicable.

Moving into a beautiful home, Rebekah and Chris (Liu and Sullivan) are trying to be relaxed parents to their sparky teen kids Chloe and Tyler (Liang and Maday). Chloe instantly senses a presence in the house, and recognises it as the spirit of a friend who recently died. Meanwhile, Tyler is preoccupied with other things, hanging out with his skater-dude pal Ryan (Mulholland), who shows an interest in Chloe. When they the whole family witnesses signs of an overactive poltergeist, they call in a psychic (Wolams-Torres). And she's more ominous than helpful.

All of this is shot from the perspective of the spirit as it prowls around the house watching this family settle in, paying particular attention to Chloe as she flirts with Ryan and then invites him over when her parents are out. Occasionally the ghost intervenes to interrupt something that's going on, rendered skilfully with subtle but eye-catching effects work. This adds to a growing sense that something nasty is coming, and the story's twists are very clever.

Performances have a natural earthiness to them that plays into how this family is unaware that someone is watching their every move. Liu and Sullivan are terrific as busy but involved parents, sharp-edged and warmly understanding, respectively. Liang is particularly strong at the centre of the narrative, giving Chloe a crisp sense of intelligence and self-will, even as we see her putting herself in danger. Both Maday and Mulholland have vivid moments of their own in subtly complex roles.

Fans of grisly horror will probably be disappointed with this film, because it uses everyday drama to create suspense with only a couple of intense flourishes. Indeed, this is a deliberately internalised film, exploring the lingering connections between the living and the dead. So it's involving on a more sensitive level than expected, generating a low-key creepiness while finding tension in the bracingly recognisable relationships between these family members.

themes, language, violence, sexuality 20.Jan.25

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL