Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean’s series) returns with Presence, a new psychological horror film. Shot entirely from the first-person perspective of the “presence,” the film follows a family moving into a new home haunted by a mysterious entity.
Presence had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, the film then got screened at other film festivals including the 49th Toronto International Film Festival, the 12th Beyond Fest, and the 37th Virginia Film Festival.
Starring the film are Lucy Liu, Julia Fox, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, and West Mulholland.
Release Date
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Presence opens in select US theaters on January 17, 2025 before expanding on January 24, 2025.
Synopsis
A family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they’re not alone.
In an interview with Filmmaker Magazine, Soderbergh talked about his process of creating the film, saying, “I wrote about 10 pages that basically just had a series of shots, over time, in the house, from what you sensed was some point of view, but which wasn’t clear yet. Then some people start to show up in the house. I had the idea that it’s a four-person family unit and there’s something going on, and that it [the presence] is attracted to the daughter, but we don’t know why. And the family seems dysfunctional. That was 10 pages. I sent them to David Koepp and said, “Does this spark anything?” And he said, “I know what to do with this.””
Reviews
Tomris Laffly in a Harper’s Bazzar review praised the film, writing, “Chilling in its freewheeling camerawork and unexpectedly heartbreaking, Soderbergh’s latest takes us back to the timeless cinematic basics of sad ghosts with unfinished business and delivers something formally fresh that renews the supernatural genre.”
Brian Tallerico in a RogerEbert.com review praised Soderbergh’s approach to the film, writing, “It’s so inspiring that Soderbergh is still here making movies the way he wants to make them, playing with form in fresh and exciting ways, reminding us that he is one of film’s more remarkable storytellers.”
Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for Presence.