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At the Clairidge Cinema, Montclair, New Jersey
*****
How can someone's ghost be haunting a house while that same person is still alive? To understand you'll have to see this new haunted house movie, which is shot entirely from the point-of-view of the ghost. You only see what it sees, and you spend the picture following it around the house while it tries to figure out why it's there and what it is meant to accomplish. It seems very interested in the Paynes, the dysfunctional family that just moved in, and especially in their daughter Chloe, who it observes at a respectful and even gentlemanly distance. She on some level comes to be aware that there is a presence in the house with them, but she is scoffed at by the rest of the fam until one night when it announces itself in a fit of rage at the cocky high school jock son. They in turn summon a medium for a scene which you should not go to the bathroom during if you expect to understand the ending.
Presence is not a particularly scary movie (it's actually kind of slow) but it is an interesting and clever one with a different take on the haunted house genre. The actors are all good, especially the young woman playing the already depressed daughter who winds up going through some upsetting stuff at the end which triggers the ghost to finally act. The photography and sound design are excellent, especially during the brief scenes where the ghost seems to be trying to break through the barrier that separates its world from ours. Also, it's only 85 minutes long, in case you feel moved to watch it again to see if you missed anything the first time.
*****
How can someone's ghost be haunting a house while that same person is still alive? To understand you'll have to see this new haunted house movie, which is shot entirely from the point-of-view of the ghost. You only see what it sees, and you spend the picture following it around the house while it tries to figure out why it's there and what it is meant to accomplish. It seems very interested in the Paynes, the dysfunctional family that just moved in, and especially in their daughter Chloe, who it observes at a respectful and even gentlemanly distance. She on some level comes to be aware that there is a presence in the house with them, but she is scoffed at by the rest of the fam until one night when it announces itself in a fit of rage at the cocky high school jock son. They in turn summon a medium for a scene which you should not go to the bathroom during if you expect to understand the ending.
Presence is not a particularly scary movie (it's actually kind of slow) but it is an interesting and clever one with a different take on the haunted house genre. The actors are all good, especially the young woman playing the already depressed daughter who winds up going through some upsetting stuff at the end which triggers the ghost to finally act. The photography and sound design are excellent, especially during the brief scenes where the ghost seems to be trying to break through the barrier that separates its world from ours. Also, it's only 85 minutes long, in case you feel moved to watch it again to see if you missed anything the first time.
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