Presence (2025)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
A couple and their children move into a seemingly normal suburban home. When strange events occur, they begin to believe there is something else in the house with them. The presence is about to disrupt their lives in unimaginable ways.
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66 films that influenced Presence
What critics say influenced Presence
…a far cry from any of the gently poignant philosophical musings that one might find in, say, David Lowery’s “A Ghost Story”…
In its usage of the ghost as a silent, largely powerless observer, "Presence" most closely recalls David Lowery's "A Ghost Story," especially when it comes to the mysteries surrounding this particular specter: where did it come from? What does it want? Who, if anyone, does it represent?
There are shades of David Lowery’s memorable A Ghost Story, but Presence largely fails to make its brief 85 minutes matter.
The movie is in the same vein as THE SIXTH SENSE, THE OTHERS and A GHOST STORY.
At its best, Presence has the genre invention of something like David Lowery’s A Ghost Story…
It sounds silly, like Brad Silberling’s Casper meets David Lowery’s A Ghost Story…
It has the fly-on-the-wall feel of a documentary without the shaky cam and the stripped-down aura of a Paranormal Activity movie with some actual agency to it.
The “Paranormal Activity” franchise has better special effects than the goofiness here.
These teasing moments encourage you to think that we might be in store for some jitters on the level of a good “Paranormal Activity” sequel.
…in an approach that reminds of Paranormal Activity by way of Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, in a way…
…with a dash of Paranormal Activity sprinkled around its edges…
…the picture echoes the Paranormal Activity series in its use of an unblinking eye that quietly captures everything, leaving the audience anxious about when the frights might occur…
We watch with giddy anticipation as the seemingly proper parents smoke pot in Poltergeist.
…punctuated with signature haunted house moments found in Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist…
1982's “Poltergeist,”…
…unlike movies like Poltergeist (look out for the nod to Hooper and Spielberg’s enduring classic in the typography of the end credits)…
…if you want to picture my mom, she’s Beatrice Straight in Poltergeist.
…given the gimmick as well as other elements such as the credits being presented in a font that's highly reminiscent of the one used for "Poltergeist."
Those expecting a Hollywood supernatural horror like The Conjuring will leave disappointed.
Audiences should not go into this with thoughts of THE CONJURING or INSIDIOUS…
Apart from The Conjuring franchise—which spawned the Annabelle and Nun films…
Despite some genre touchstones that may be more at home in The Conjuring franchise…
Soderbergh decides he wants Presence to stop being A Ghost Story and start being The Conjuring.
Audiences should not go into this with thoughts of THE CONJURING or INSIDIOUS…
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Unlike Nickel Boys from 2024, where the characters often make direct eye contact with the lens…
Unlike RaMell Ross—who, in the much more inventive and interesting Nickel Boys (2024), rug-pulls the POV shots to switch between characters and continuously creates new perspectives his characters can see the world through—Soderbergh isn’t doing anything with the POV ghost character that doesn’t adhere to the same exact restrictions as a neutral cameraman filming a movie, perhaps even less so.
…its DNA is actually closer to Nickel Boys. While it may seem like a bit of a stretch to compare Soderbergh's haunted house movie to Ross' ravishing work in Nickel Boys - their uses of form to engender a sense of empathy aren't entirely dissimilar.
…along with the empathetic aesthetic of RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys…
Much like how his 2018 psychological thriller Unsane was elevated by it being shot entirely on an iPhone 7 Plus…
Like “Unsane,” “Presence” also employs a unique P.O.V. throughout its entire runtime.
As with Soderbergh’s previous Unsane, there is a sense of some of the most interesting ideas going under-explored…
…this slow-burn thriller is perhaps most similar to 2018’s disorienting, impishly inventive Unsane…
I couldn’t help but think of Soderbergh’s 2018 genre feature Unsane as Presence revealed its hand during its 85-minute runtime. Unsane, like Presence, took a conventional and commercial genre framework and iterated technically, not narratively.
His latest, Presence, shares a fair amount in common with Unsane (2018) and Kimi (2022) – clean, simple premises tied primarily to a single location, yet giddy with possibility.
The movements within this film, all taken from the perspective of the ghost haunting a house that a new family moves into, are not dissimilar from the camerawork in both High Flying Bird (2019) and Kimi (2022).
The biggest element within Soderbergh's filmography is the notion of confession — from "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" to "Kimi" (his prior collaboration with Koepp), his films feature characters telling the audience and/or each other their deepest secrets in various ways.
His latest, Presence, shares a fair amount in common with Unsane (2018) and Kimi (2022) – clean, simple premises tied primarily to a single location, yet giddy with possibility.
…first with 2022’s corporate techno-thriller Kimi…
David Koepp (in their second collaboration after Kimi)…
Joining Soderbergh behind the camera for a second time, following Kimi (2022), is the equally prolific screenwriter David Koepp…
Soderbergh is no stranger to nerve-wracking thrillers, having directed movies such as Unsane and Side Effects. Also, Presence is penned by David Koepp, the writer of David Fincher’s claustrophobic Panic Room. Both men know how to play with the public’s feelings and generate anxiety, and Presence gets there eventually.
The movements within this film, all taken from the perspective of the ghost haunting a house that a new family moves into, are not dissimilar from the camerawork in both High Flying Bird (2019) and Kimi (2022).
…the following year shot High Flying Bird on an iPhone 8…
…with video experiments like Full Frontal, Bubble, and High Flying Bird…
…smaller iPhone films such as Unsane and High Flying Bird…
Like some of the best ghost films, from Stir of Echoes to The Changeling, The Others and The Devil’s Backbone, Steven Soderbergh’s Presence revels in atmosphere over jump-scare horror…
The latter is not just a screenwriter, of course, but a director in his own right, helming in particular 1999's "Stir of Echoes," a film that similarly deals with the mysteries of the supernatural alongside a pulpy genre narrative.
But his most relevant work to Presence is the woefully underrated Stir of Echoes, a 1999 horror movie, where Kevin Bacon plays a man with newly awakened abilities to commune with the dead.
…the intensely creepy Stir of Echoes (from which Presence largely cribs its climactic reveal)…
…the equally prolific screenwriter David Koepp (Stir of Echoes)…
David Koepp (“Jurrasic Park,” “Stir of Echoes”)…
Koepp has also proven adept at exploring similar themes with two of his own haunted house films as a director, the intensely creepy Stir of Echoes (from which Presence largely cribs its climactic reveal) and You Should Have Left, both of which periodically present their supernatural occurrences through a peculiar distortion of time and space.
…as if Koepp was overcorrecting after the incessant exposition dumps of his last supernatural drama, 2020’s You Should Have Left…
In a Violent Nature - which was shot from the point of view of a slasher movie villain…
While it is audacious to film from the ghost’s point of view like “In a Violent Nature” (2024), it is pointless if the themes do not similarly rise to the occasion.
The film plays like a cross between A Ghost Story and In a Violent Nature…
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1944’s “The Uninvited,”…
Presence came out of when we were talking about doing a remake of the 1944 ghost movie The Uninvited.
1963’s “The Haunting,”…
…a distinctly cool, dynamic riff on Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom via The Haunting…