Susan Granger’s review of “Presence” (Neon)
What do you call a ghost story that can’t even conjure up a few scares? “Presence,” Steven Soderbergh’s recent attempt at a horror movie.
His puzzling plot begins as an upper-middle class family inspects an old house in leafy suburbia. The location – a.k.a. school district – is exactly what they want – and they’re the first potential buyers, according to Cece (Julia Fox), their eager real estate agent.
Assertive Rebecca (Lucy Liu) wants to start negotiating immediately and her compassionate husband Chris (Chris Sullivan) acquiesces as their teenagers – competitive swimmer Tyler (Eddy Maday) and troubled Chloe (Callina Liang) – claim their individual bedrooms.
There’s a brief foreshadowing of trouble when one of the painters refuses to work in Chloe’s room, sensing a strange, spectral presence there. Perhaps it’s because Chloe is mourning the recent death of her bestie Nadia, along with another girl in her school, in drug-related incidents.
Surveillance reveals how Chloe’s continuing grief pervades the atmosphere, specifically reflected in the 100-year-old silver nitrate mirror in the living room of what’s obviously a haunted house.
Scripted by David Koepp (“Jurassic Park”), it’s a metaphysical mystery propelled by the gliding ghost-in-the-camera that’s wielded by Steven Soderbergh (“Erin Brockovich,” “Magic Mike” and the “Ocean’s” trilogy), who uses the cinematographer pseudonym of Peter Andrews.
Problem is: much of it doesn’t make sense and some subplots are never resolved. It’s bizarre how Rebecca so strongly favors her insolent son Tyler, who is constantly preoccupied with his cellphone. Why? And what about all her secretive financial dealings?
And why does no one seem to notice or take responsibility when vulnerable Chloe hooks up with Tyler’s questionable friend Ryan (West Mulholland), disappearing with him into her bedroom.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Presence” conjures a dysfunctional 4 – available for rent or purchase on Prime Video. But don’t bother.
