Welcome back to the blog readers. As it is very well documented at this point, I have a love/hate relationship with horror films because they almost always miss the plot (literally). Here's the thing though: going in to this film, I thought it was a horror film but I was greatly surprised coming out of it. With my expectations already subverted, would I wind up enjoying myself with this film that features a groundbreaking new idea? Stick around to find out.
Presence was directed by Steven Soderbergh from a screenplay by David Koepp. The film stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, and Julia Fox. In the film, a family moves into a suburban house, but they realize they may not be alone in the house as a supernatural presence stalks them. The film is shot from the perspective of the presence.
Like I mentioned in the intro paragraph, shooting the film from the perspective of a supernatural entity is a genius idea, because there are usual restrictions that exist with haunted house films that are lifted in this scenario, such as one I will discuss a bit later. But overall, I do have to say that this film, while a bit of a slow burn, has the makings of a good film. But I really do think that the super-short runtime (1:25) and the aforementioned slow burn clog this film down a bit for me.
There is one element of the film that I do like performance-wise and that is that of Chris Sullivan. The former Taserface actor is someone that I am not privy to, but I do want to say that he does seem like a good actor. I think this film definitely proved that fact because his character was the most grounded and real out of all of them, and Sullivan's honest and grounded performance helps with that a lot. It is also a very relatable performance that I see a lot of people in.
I had mentioned in an earlier paragraph that one of the restrictions haunted house films usually have was lifted for this film, and that restriction was the flow of time. Normally with these films, we cannot really play around with the flow of time because we are following our characters and their story so we have no time to venture outwards. But with this film, it feels like a bunch of shorts that are connected by this common thread. Having the film being shot from the perspective of this presence allows for us to be able to skip points in time entirely because it can be chocked up to the presence appearing and disappearing in these moments. And that is an idea that I honestly love. I wish more films would take this approach.
The real negative I have with the film is that for it being part drama, the drama really does not seem interesting enough for me. That element of the film feels bland, generic, rehashed and overall just boring at times to me. When we were following the daughter it felt real and grounded, but it otherwise felt convoluted and soap-operaish at times. And I doubt I will be as uncomfortable at some point this year than I was when we almost saw a sexual assault end bad. I do not think we should be glorifying this type of behavior, even if we are sending a negative message around it.
In conclusion, Presence is a half-baked thriller drama that wastes a brilliant idea and a great Chris Sullivan performance on some soap opera level drama that is not fleshed out at all. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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