Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh has tackled every genre under the sun: the heist thriller with the “Ocean’s” franchise, sci-fi with “Solaris,” WWII films (“The Good German”), the action genre (“Haywire”), thrillers of all sorts (“Contagion,” “Side Effects,” “Kimi”), comedies (“The Informant!”) and more. But aside from “Unsane,” which flirted with the psychological horror genre, Soderbergh has never really done traditional horror. Now, his latest, “Presence,” a ghost story thriller, is anything but traditional, but it’s arguably the closest he’s ever come to making a pure horror.
READ MORE: ‘Presence’ Review: Steven Soderbergh’s Unsettling Ghost Story Menace Is Memorable & Magical [Sundance]
The film’s logline is simple—a family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they’re not alone—but apparently, it’s chillingly effective.
Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival last year to much acclaim, “Presence” stars Lucy Liu, “The Knick” star Chris Sullivan, Julia Fox, Eddy Maday, Callina Liang, and West Mulholland.
The other element of “Presence” that makes it a very unique cinematic experience, is that the camera is essentially a character in the film and essentially represents the point of view of the ghost.
“The camera floats in defiance of gravity as it rigorously adheres to the POV of a ghost confined within the walls of a New Jersey house,” Marshall Shaffer wrote in our Sundance 2024 review. “It’s an unpredictable and exciting ride to assume the line of sight for a force that cannot be seen, much less understood or known. Soderbergh is in total command and asks for nothing less than total submission from an audience to go where he wants within the space.”
Written by David Koepp, known for “Jurassic Park” (1993), “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“ (2008), and “Carlito’s Way” (1993), the screenwriter has also written three Soderbergh films in a row, “Kimi” (2022), “Presence” (2025), and next year’s spy thriller “Black Bag” starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender.
“Presence” will be released in theaters on January 24, 2025, via Neon. Watch the first official trailer below.