Presence

The people who generally saw this film most likely did so based on the trailer, imagery, and title of the film, all which indicate it's going to be similar to things like 'Hereditary' or 'Babadook'.

This movie is nothing like those. I wouldn't even call it scary. It's not supposed to be. The low ratings are probably from moviegoers who expected it to be, which is fair, no blame on them.

For those looking to watch a very quality movie, with a novel concept, this one might be for you. It has a lot of heart, some powerful social/relationship dynamics, and pulls you in, making you cheer internally for things to happen or not happen.

While I appreciate Soderburgh trying something new, there were way too many missed opportunities to make this movie feel anything other than gimmicky. Don't get me wrong, it was a good attempt at a ghost story but the tone of the movie got tripped up on adding too many distracting elements. It seemed more experimental than anything else; the characters felt forced (especially the parents), the foreshadowing was over the top, and the last ten minutes undid any possible horror that I originally hoped I would find. Definitely walked away feeling disappointed but only because the events leading up to it left too many open ended questions. (One of the biggest being why they would leave their children in an obviously haunted house (this is not a spoiler, it's literally the title of the movie) and then say "make good decisions." Dumb.)

I want to preface this by saying I thought Presence was a good movie. The acting, camera work, storytelling - all hit the mark for me.

That being said, I wouldn't classify this as a horror film, and I didn't find it scary at all. Suspenseful? Sure, at times. However, the "twist" was relatively easy to catch on to pretty early in the film, and figuring that out sort of detracts from the experience.

I would categorize this film as more of a family drama, with an interesting and unique take on the classic ghost stories of the past. If you're looking for a film to truly scare you, this one isn't it. Almost all of the ghostly happenings are shown in the trailer as well, which was disappointing.

I usually don't like saying this but Presence just ended up feeling like a prolonged gimmick of a movie. Because despite the fact that I do think the main idea is quite interesting I don't really think it ended up sustaining a whole feature. If it was a 20-30 minute short I think this premise could've worked wonders and felt like a very unique take on a ghost story. But as is, despite some really impressive camera work, it just ends up feeling like there's a lot of bloat which comes in the form of character drama only some of which I thought actually worked. The transitions between scenes are very abrupt and after a while I felt like I was watching the same 2 or 3 scenes over and over again. The dialogue and the acting can feel quite stilted and a lot of the drama going on between this family doesn't really amount to much with a last minute twist that felt like it belonged in a different movie. For only an 85 minute movie it drags which again goes back to my point that this idea feels better suited to a short. There's a few interesting ideas and more than a few points where I really felt like I was getting what Soderbergh was going for but this really just ended up feeling like a bit of a missed opportunity. I really like the idea and always compliment a film that has a premise I wish I'd have come up with myself. I just wish the actually execution was on the same level.

Presence is a well constructed, drama-centred ghost story with a very effective story-telling gimmick. The short runtime and tiny cast and set served for an efficient and tight story. The production constraints must have been COVID related but I feel Soderberg used these limitations to the films credit.

The cast were strong and believable as a family unit. Many unseen facets of the characters lives were referenced and the film did a good job of presenting each personality organically. Although I actually found the daughter, who could be considered the films main character, to be the least deeply developed.

Although it's a ghost story of sorts, I would not call it a horror film. It seldom attempts to scare the audience in anything more than a very mild of unease. That said, there were several chilling moments.

Overall I enjoyed Presence and I appreciated its creativity and economical story telling. Although not a sensational film, it was a satisfying and tight story which I appreciated.