By Keith Walther | RLGR
While it’s refreshing to see ingenuity in a horror film, it is much more important to connect with the audience to build the tension and fright to achieve that memorable filmgoing experience. Even though “Presence” is billed as a horror movie, it fails in this respect, only building an increasing sense of boredom. Shown from the perspective of the ghost, this haunted house subgenre film definitely had promise, but predictability and poor acting solidify the disappointment.
Moving to the suburbs was supposed to help heal and unite a family dealing with difficult situations, but fate has other ideas. Rebekah (Lucy Liu) is consumed with her work and her son Tyler’s (Eddy Maday) swimming success at the local high school. Chris (Chris Sullivan) is her husband, who’s trying desperately to get her to understand and help their teenage daughter Chloe (Callina Liang) deal with her best friend’s untimely death from an apparent drug overdose.
As time passes in their new home, they come to the realization that they’re not alone, that there’s a presence lurking and creepily watching them. The ghost has seemingly attached itself to Chloe, perhaps identifying with her emotional pain. Watching over the distressed teen primarily from the girl’s closet, the ghost takes a more active role, freaking Chloe out not knowing the ghost’s intentions. Even though the family has been tormented by the strange occurrences, the parents inexplicably leave the siblings alone for the weekend, leading to a heavily foreshadowed ending.
Despite winning the Oscar for Best Director in 2001 for “Traffic,” Steven Soderbergh is clearly out of his element within the horror genre. He should be commended for trying something new and different having the story play out from the ghost’s point of view, but he forgets to develop any sort of compelling tension and fear. Soderbergh focuses so much of his attention on the artistry and style that he telegraphs every main plot point, creating nothing but ambivalence towards the obvious outcomes.
Now, it should be noted that he films the entirety of the movie using a series of long continuous shots, which are extremely difficult to execute with precision. In fact, there’s under 100 cuts throughout the movie, which is unheard of in a feature length film. At first, the fluidity of the camera movement throughout the house as he allows the audience to see and experience the ghost’s viewpoint is very interesting and beautiful, but it gets old really quick. Filming is exclusive to inside the house, which drastically limits the variety of visuals. The ghost’s movements become tiringly stale with limited ability to interact with the living, coagulating a growing sense of boredom that makes the under hour and a half runtime feel like three grueling hours.
When so many continuous shots are used, it is integral to have a capable and talented cast who can act even when the focus of the shot is not on them. Unfortunately, the entire cast struggles to understand what to do when not delivering their lines. Viewers feel embarrassment for the actors as they can be seen in the background and foreground clearly thinking about their next mark, waiting for their moment to deliver that next line and where they’re supposed to be standing while another cast member is speaking. This destroys any sense of authenticity, crippling any chance of connecting with the characters.
Bottom line, the only ghosting that should be happening is audiences ghosting this film. With a complete lack of fright or even a hint of suspense, “Presence” has no business being labeled a horror film. Having a Rotten Tomatoes score above 85%, it’s clear that critics have become overly enamored with originality and big-name directors, even when entertainment value is not at all present. As a challenge to all critics, always remember the point of making a movie, which is to entertain, and this movie fails in that most basic of tenets.
This movie earns:
