Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh exists as the rare director who feels at home in any genre. Since announcing his talents with 1989’s captivating character piece, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Soderbergh refuses to be categorized, balancing big budget studio projects with smaller works that allow him to explore his experimental tendencies. Science Fiction, Comedy, Drama, Action, Thriller; he has done them all. Horror has been the only film category that has eluded the prolific filmmaker. While his latest work, Presence, is certainly a ghost story, the more overt horror elements are toned down in favor of something deeper. The film certainly holds some chilling moments, but Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp are concerned with more than scares. Within this uniquely designed film is a mystery wrapped in an examination of trauma and a family in crisis. A haunted house tale with something more. 

Soderbergh is usually his own cinematographer, shooting most of his films under the pseudonym Peter Andrews. Armed with an inventive visual style that sidesteps being used as a gimmick, “Andrews” is back behind the camera. Telling the story from an unexpected first-person POV, Presence is witnessed completely from the perspective of the titular ghost.

The film begins in an empty suburban home in an affluent neighborhood. Soderbergh immediately establishes the ghost through fluid camera movements, as the apparition navigates the quiet and empty home. A real estate agent (Julia Fox) enters the home and readies herself for her prospective buyers, a family of four who are haunted by their own personal issues. Rebekah (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan), and their two teenage children, Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang) are drawn to the spacious old-style home and immediately agree to move in.

Chris is a caring and attentive father who wants to help daughter Chloe through the trauma of losing her best friend to a recent drug overdose. Dad is also trying to figure out why son Tyler is becoming a mean-spirited bully. Mom Rebekah (Lucy Liu) is a selfish woman who drinks a bit too much and seems to dote more on her asshole son than her grieving daughter. Rebekah may be involved in something illegal at her job, which becomes the core of the family’s unstable existence in their new home. 

As it glides throughout the house, the spirit hears every discussion. Through impressive techniques, the audience experiences the entity’s confusion as the family becomes the real disruptive force. Soderbergh backs up his camera when the ghost feels uneasy during certain arguments or emotional turmoil. When observing the family as a whole, the movement of the presence is more shaky. As it gravitates more and more to Chloe, we feel it becoming in tune with her broken but sweet soul and the camera becomes steady. As we experience moments where the presence does things to actually help Chloe (at one point, it tidies up her room), it becomes clear the ghost has found a reason for “existing”, such as it does. This isn’t a mischievous or malevolent presence out to scare those who inhabit the house. In one of the screenplay’s more fascinating aspects, Koepp and Soderbergh’s entity is beginning to learn. How it got here is not for us to discover. The spirit is our guide to something deeper. 

The introduction of Tyler’s dubious friend Ryan (West Mulholland, creepier than any ghost) adds an aura of danger. Chloe is drawn to him and the two teens find their way to a sexual relationship. Ryan’s intentions are not born of sweetness and affection, as he is revealed to be more predatory and dangerous than Chloe could suspect. The ghost senses the impending peril and tries to warn Chloe and her family, finally making its presence known by throwing things around her room for all to see. This unnerving encounter leads them to consult a spiritualist, Lisa (Natalie Woolams-Torres). 

Presence has fun with the character without dimming her importance to the story. When entering the home, she immediately recoils after being startled by the strong feeling of the entity’s existence. This is to be a quick moment of levity in a quite somber film. After experiencing the vibe within the house and opening up her abilities, Lisa explains how the spirit is lost to time, caught between past and present; a type of purgatory beyond its understanding. Later, she will return to warn the family of a more sinister premonition that will lead the film to its clever and effective denouement. 

Soderbergh’s technical mastery and skill for compelling storytelling blend very well here. The house in this film isn’t necessarily haunted. The presence exists there for whatever reason. The true horror comes not from something supernatural, but from watching a family unit implode. Chris resents his wife and resents the way she ignores their increasingly withdrawn daughter in favor of her unhealthy relationship with their son. He watches helplessly as Chloe sits alone in her grief, while Rebekah tries to get out of the trouble she put herself in and son Tyler moves farther and farther from the son he loves. The bonds of family disappear during a time where they all need one another more than ever. It is in this domestic human crisis where the film finds its dramatic core, presenting the combined tensions of the presence and the familial trauma with an intimate focus.

Koepp’s screenplay holds many interesting surprises; giving a refreshing depth to the characters and their situation. Soderbergh’s inventive direction assures the work never falls into melodramatic traps while giving the film an unsettling sense of dread. From the first shot, the director keeps his audience on the edge of their seats with the intense trepidation of what comes next. 

This is a film that grabs you from the first moment. Sidestepping traditional horror movie scares, Soderbergh knows how to keep his audience in the grasp of fear, as the film cuts its artfully  labyrinthine path through human emotion and paranormal observation. Through the eyes of a spirit that longs to be part of humanity, the effective camerawork tells its affecting tale.

Presented with a disturbingly muted tone, Presence is an innovative experience. Steven Soderbergh has crafted an intimate, voyeuristic, ghost story that reveals itself to be more intriguing (in both design and execution) than most of today’s genre pictures. 

Prersence

Written by David Koepp

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddie Maday, West Mulholland, Natalie Woolams-Torres, Julia Fox

R, 85 Minutes, Neon, Extension 765