Presence

Presence tells the story of a family that moves into a haunted house. 

Now, that may sound like the plot of every horror film to ever exist, but what differentiates this movie from many other ghost stories, is how this story is told from the perspective of the ghost that is doing the “haunting.” That’s right, the ghost is basically the main character of this movie. Which is rather interesting. But, while the concept is admittedly unique, I thought the movie itself was just okay.

To be clear: I thought that most of the movie was genuinely good. The performances were great; the characters dynamics were fascinating; the family drama was engaging; the themes were quite interesting; and Steven Soderbergh’s directorial style was pretty solid. But the finale definitely waned on my overall experience. 

Because the movie ended with a plot twist that just did not work for me at all. I mean, aside from feeling like a twist ripped straight out of an M. Night Shyamalan feature, the finale completely re-contextualized the entirety of the film. So, elements of the movie that were working for me, suddenly didn't make any sense to me at all .

Plus, by the time the film actually ended, I realized that there were a few plot lines that didn't go anywhere. It's as if the movie completely forgot about these plot lines, or as if they had no bearing on the actual story being hold. So, the final few moments really hindered my experience with the movie overall.

But I can’t deny that I was enjoying the film up until that point. I like the movie’s interesting and unique perspective; I just with that the finale didn’t twist the way that it did. 

So, even in spite of my issues with the finale, I think Presence would still get a mild recommendation from me.