PRESENCE
Credit: Picturehouse Entertainment
Steven Soderbergh knows his way around a camera and has delivered an eerily beautiful thriller with Presence, a ‘horror’ of sorts that follows a ghostly being in a newly purchased family home. Shot with alarming disquiet and bubbling tension, this is primarily a character study of a strained family who are all dealing with things. Mother Lucy Liu is working on some shady business deals, much to her husband Chris Sullivan’s displeasure. The apple of her eye is her son (Eddy Maday) who she clearly favours over her emotionally distraught daughter (Callina Liang) who has just lost a friend to drug use. The film keeps you hooked through its slender 90min runtime but don’t go in expecting The Conjuring or a slasher film. This is a slow-burn thriller that trusts in its own simplicity.
