Presence (2024)
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A family moving into a new home must confront a mysterious presence that haunts their lives.
The story
The Payne family—parents Rebekah and Chris, and their children Tyler and Chloe—move into a new suburban home. While the move is intended to support Tyler's athletic ambitions and provide a fresh start for Chloe, who is struggling with the recent loss of a friend, the house is inhabited by a mysterious, unseen presence. As the family settles in, the haunting begins to manifest, creating tension and forcing the family to confront their internal conflicts and the unsettling reality of their new environment.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The Payne family moves into a suburban home where an unseen presence haunts the premises. While the parents, Rebekah and Chris, deal with personal stresses—including Rebekah's potential involvement in white-collar crime—the children, Tyler and Chloe, navigate their own struggles. Chloe, grieving a friend named Nadia, begins to sense the presence, while Tyler becomes involved with a drug-using friend, Ryan. The presence manifests physically, eventually escalating into a confrontation when Tyler's actions are exposed. A psychic medium, Lisa, suggests the presence is trying to prevent a future event. The tension peaks when Ryan drugs both Tyler and Chloe; the presence intervenes, and Tyler manages to tackle Ryan, leading to both falling to their deaths. In the aftermath, Rebekah discovers through a mirror that Tyler's spirit was displaced in time and acted as a guardian to save Chloe's life before the presence vanished.
- First release year
- 2024
- Runtime (minutes)
- 85
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Steven Soderbergh
- Writers
- David Koepp · writer
- Cast and characters
- Lucy Liu · Rebekah Payne; Chris Sullivan · Chris Payne; Callina Liang · Chloe Payne; Eddy Maday · Tyler Payne; West Mulholland · Ryan Caldwell; Julia Fox · Cece; Natalie Woolams-Torres · Lisa; Lucas Papaelias · Carl
- Genres
- supernatural thriller; drama
- Themes
- grief; family dynamics; protection
- Tone and mood
- tense; haunting
- Premise and plot tags
- haunted house; first-person perspective; supernatural
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised its cinematography and structure, though some critics found the plot unoriginal.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 77 · scale: 100 · review count: 53; CinemaScore · score: C+ · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 58% · scale: overall positive
- Awards and nominations
- NYT Critic's Choice · Award · Win
- Production trivia
- The film is shot entirely in the first-person perspective.; Soderbergh performed his own cinematography under the pseudonym Peter Andrews.; The concept was inspired by Soderbergh's own belief in a presence in his home.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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