Ever had a tickle in your ear? Heard a sound you couldn't quite place, but wouldn't leave you alone? In Presence, director Colin MacDonald takes this common, often banal, experience and transforms it into a psychological horror short that will make you think twice before plugging another Q-tip in your ear.
The film has a slower pace than one might expect from a horror, but it matches the content perfectly. An intimate study of Kyle, a musician, who one day finds he can't rid his ear of a pesky noise. What was at first just irritating becomes frightening. He soon finds himself surrounded and tortured by sounds he can't locate, but which nevertheless invade his mind and begin to unhinge him, leading to an emotional conclusion which may or may not involve a handy kitchen knife and some adrenaline fuelled amateur surgery.
I wouldn't necessarily classify this film as experimental. It does make use of genre conventions, and I wasn't taken completely by surprise by the ending. But that, for this type of film, isn't the point. It's more about the feeling and mood of the piece throughout, which will hopefully invade your mind alongside Kyle's, and continue to niggle in your ear after the film ends. Along with some slick cinematography and colour grading, the film becomes an excellent illustration of what an emerging filmmaker like MacDonald can produce. I certainly look forward to seeing more from him.
