‘Presence’ is a ghostly gimmick thriller from Steven Soderbergh

The first of a possible three films this year from the director, Presence offers a new spin on haunted house horror.

Image: NEON

Arriving this month, more than a year after its Sundance Film Festival debut, Presence is the latest in a long line of experimental features from the prolific director Steven Soderbergh.

Presence is one of three films Soderbergh is set to deliver in 2025, and while it doesn’t go anywhere near the top of the director’s filmography, it sets up a gimmick from the beginning and follows through with it, mostly successfully. And the ending is especially strong.

The premise of Presence is fairly simple: A family moves into a new, opulent home, which is haunted, and the story is told from the ghost's point of view. The “rules’ are that the ghost can’t leave the house but can occasionally intervene in the action, by moving objects around, or providing a distraction. The entire film comes from this POV, usually in long, unbroken takes.

As always, Soderbergh is acting as his own cinematographer, under the pseudonym “Peter Andrews.” It’s his first film since Magic Mike’s Last Dance in 2023, but there’s a lot more to come.

The new film gradually parcels out what we need to know about the family and their troubles: The parents are Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan, from This is Us), while their kids are Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang).

The fifth major character is Ryan (West Mulholland), a friend of Tyler’s who soon develops an interest in his friend’s sister and looks and behaves a lot like you’d expect from a guy named “West Mulholland.” Julia Fox, more downtown scene It Girl than actress in the years since Uncut Gems, shows up briefly as a realtor.

Callina Liang gives the best performance in the film, as a character whose performance is very interior, until it’s not, while Sullivan also shines in a rare film role.

Image: NEON

Rebecca, who dotes on her generally loathsome son while all but ignoring her daughter, has gotten up to some embezzlement or other illegal shenanigans on her son’s behalf, while Chris is closer to his daughter, who is grieving the overdose death of a close friend, who may have returned as the titular ghost. The parents’ marriage also appears to be in some peril, thanks to differing parenting styles as well as possible criminal jeopardy.

Written by David Koepp, who previously worked with Soderbergh on Kimi, his 2022, Alexa-based riff on The Conversation, the film does some creative things with its premise, while also doing a good job establishing the layout of the house (you’d be surprised by how many movies don’t bother to do that.)

And the ending, in particular, is especially chilling and ultimately poignant.

Soderbergh’s next film, also written by Koepp, is the spy thriller Black Bag, coming out in March; I saw the trailer ahead of Presence. Another film, The Christophers, is said to arrive by the end of the year as well. This one came out from NEON, and it’s good to see Soderbergh’s films going out theatrically this year, after a few years in which most of his work debuted on Netflix and Max.