Almost exactly one year after its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, NEON will release Steven Soderbergh’s ghost story, Presence. And they are going full-tilt in pushing this one, as the acclaimed filmmaker takes his shot at horror, doing it with the experimental, unique approach that we have come to expect from Soderbergh.
Penned by David Koepp (writer of Soderbergh’s film Kimi), the story centers on a family who learn they are not alone upon moving into a new home. As I wrote in my review, Soderbergh’s “lens is an actual presence, a supernatural force lurking in some places, observing carefully in others.” That makes this a movie seen from the entity’s perspective, which opens up some fascinating areas of exploration. Soderbergh’s approach to doing so is deliberately paced to not match the rhythms of studio horror movies, so expect more of a slow burn.
Lucy Liu, Julia Fox, and Chris Sullivan lead the cast, joined by Callina Liang, Eddy Maday and West Mulholland.
Soderbergh doesn’t want to give anything away, which is why the synopsis is so bare: A family moves into a suburban home and becomes convinced they’re not alone.
NEON will release Presence in theaters on January 24th 2025. Frankly, I think they’ve put out too many trailers and shown too much, but I also think this could be Soderbergh’s biggest mainstream film in a while.
