One factor I really like most in regards to the horror style is its exceptional versatility, boasting a virtually unmatched number of associated subgenres, from slashers to creature options. That being mentioned, there are specific classes of horror that I’ve grown a bit uninterested in lately, particularly haunted home thrillers. That’s the reason I’m so grateful for a current movie known as Presence.
I lastly bought round to seeing this new 2025 film from Academy Award-winning director Stephen Soderbergh and author David Koepp with my Hulu subscription, and I imagine it is among the most refreshingly distinctive ghost tales I’ve ever seen. I’d name it one of the best new horror film I’ve seen to this point this yr, however the story it tells transcends the style so far as I’m involved. Permit me to additional clarify – with out spoilers – why I feel Presence is among the finest haunted home films in a very long time, if not ever.
The Ghost POV Gimmick Is Used Splendidly
Presence is, fairly actually, a ghost story informed from the standpoint of the ghost. The digital camera acts because the eyes of the spirit haunting the Payne household – Rebekah (Lucy Liu), her husband, Chris (Chris Sullivan), their daughter, Chloe (Callina Liang), and older son, Tyler (Eddy Maday) – quickly after they transfer into a brand new dwelling.
Presenting the story fully by means of a voyeuristic fish-eye lens may have simply been an inexpensive, tiresome gimmick, however I discovered the cinematography (shot by Soderbergh below the pseudonym Peter Andrews) stunning in each a technical and emotional sense. By capturing every scene in a single steady take (and reaching some genuinely eye-opening visible results, too), Presence had me locked into the story extra successfully than most discovered footage thrillers would possibly, as if I had been the lingering spirit floating proper subsequent to those characters, whom I used to be turning into extra hooked up to by the minute.
It is A Extra Attention-grabbing Household Drama Than A Horror Film
Even with out the ghostly POV gimmick that makes it an on the spot horror film traditional in my ebook, Presence can be a completely gripping expertise. I genuinely imagine that Koepp does a few of his all-time finest work with this screenplay, depicting the Payne Household’s sophisticated dynamic.
I cannot expose any particulars in regards to the non-supernatural circumstances plaguing these characters, however I’ll say they’re portrayed in a refreshingly grounded and genuine method, with sturdy performances throughout and the incorporation of themes that virtually anybody may establish with. I’d categorize it as a horror film about grief, but it surely, fortunately, casts a wider internet than that. There have been even moments that jogged my memory of my relationship with my family to the purpose that I used to be practically moved to tears, which I didn’t in any respect anticipate.
It Has A Chilling Twist Ending
The very best ghost tales typically finish with a surprising plot twist, the killer reveal in The Sixth Sense (nonetheless thought of the best M. Evening Shyamalan film twist) being the usual for many audiences. Not solely do I imagine that Presence is not any exception, however I feel it’s a high-ranking instance.
With out giving an excessive amount of away, the twist is not like virtually something I’ve seen within the realm of haunted home tales, and whereas the mechanics of it are barely complicated, it nonetheless is smart when it comes to the way it serves the general narrative. On prime of that, it’s a heartwrenching epilogue to an already deeply emotional story.
Whereas it’s actually not the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, I’m not too stunned that audiences walked out of Presence over its stress-inducing material when it premiered at Sundance, in accordance with Selection. I used to be afraid it is perhaps as a result of horror followers who had been anticipating a extra conventional fright fest bought bored, however I think about anybody upset by one thing just like the experimental indie thriller Skinamarink will definitely discover this movie extra accessible. Perhaps once you stream Presence on Hulu, you would possibly even end up questioning if there’s something in your house watching you.