“Presence” may seem like a very typical ghost story, following a family that becomes convinced it is not alone after moving into their new suburban home, but one thing sets the film apart — it’s told from the perspective of the ghost.
Director Steven Soderbergh is a very experimental filmmaker. He has filmed movies on an iPhone and a movie with a budget of $0.25, and now, changing the familiar narrative in the experiment that is “Presence.” Naturally, there is a precariousness around completely flipping such an iconic genre on its head. Fortunately, the risk pays off.
When telling a story from the perspective of the thing that the audience is supposed to be afraid of, it becomes nearly impossible to be afraid of said thing. And when the scare aspect is taken away from a ghost movie, it puts an immense amount of pressure on the dialogue and pacing to carry the load of the story. The good thing is that the screenplay was written by David Koepp, known for his work writing films like “Jurassic Park” and “Spider-Man.”
Koepp’s impact is felt from start to finish, as the dialogue is easily the best part of the film. It feels natural, flows well and avoids growing stale despite being the driving force of a story that stays in one location and only focuses on a handful of characters.
Soderbergh’s cinematography is also a strongpoint. Shot completely in first-person, the movie takes time to actually walk up stairs and down hallways like a real character without cutting away. The idea of the camera being a character in the movie works phenomenally and keeps the audience engaged as well.
The score, composed beautifully by Zack Ryan, is also one of the movie’s strongest aspects.
When a large amount of time is spent following characters around and watching them go about their daily lives, the music plays a heightened role in creating and maintaining interest. Ryan’s score does that, as it’s sentimental and quaint for the majority of the runtime before turning darker and more intense as the third act unfolds.
As for the third act, it’s a mixed bag. The film is only 85 minutes long and is paced well for about 75 of them, but the final few scenes are rushed through to a jarring degree. It doesn’t necessarily bring the film down, as the final scene is easily among the strongest, but it does leave the viewer a tad dissatisfied when the credits roll.
However good the movie may be, in the eyes of audiences, it seems to have fallen short due to its misleading marketing from Neon. The company, most well-known for its viral marketing campaign for “Longlegs” last summer, typically claims its films are the scariest of the year, decade or even all time. That was no different for “Presence,” as Neon promoted it as a terrifying horror film.
The only problem is that “Presence” isn’t remotely scary, nor is it supposed to be. Neon clearly misjudged the nature of the film, as even though it’s atmospheric and tense, it never once even attempts to scare the audience. This rift between expectation and reality has already made itself apparent, as the Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score is at 87% compared to the audience score of only 54%.
Overall, “Presence” is a very impressive movie with high-quality filmmaking and a solid script. Unfortunately, the film’s reputation may be damaged by a misleading marketing campaign that has already created negative reviews from disappointed audiences.