Despite reliable performances and execution, the shallow and too nebulous storytelling ultimately sinks Presence. The emphasis on puzzling ambiguity over character or narrative winds up leaving the horror lost at sea.

Ultimately too ambitious for its own good, Presence nevertheless showcases some interesting work.

Christian Schultz’s Presence is a possession thriller gone aimlessly adrift over international waters.

<em>'Presence'</em> holds uniqueness in regards to how it is filmed, which is very effective, though its story does end up being quite straightforward - and more teen drama-ry than anticipated. All the same, I did enjoy myself whilst watching it unfold across 85mins, pleasantly. The cast are also a strong point of this film. Lucy Liu and Eddy Maday are decent, though Callina Liang and Chris Sullivan are the definitive standouts - both t'rific. West Mulholland is solid in his role, even if I'm not absolutely sold on everything that goes on with his character. Interesting that this closely follows the release (at least in the UK) of Robert Zemeckis' <em>'Here'</em> - two films shot in original perspectives. This Steven Soderbergh picture isn't quite as high class as that one, but all in all is worthy of a watch; especially with such a short run time. Thanks to the aforementioned, I was able to watch this at the cinema shortly after finishing Mel Gibson's <em>'Flight Risk'</em>. You could say both do have a feel of being made-for-streaming (this feels <a href="https://letterboxd.com/r96sk/list/ranked-welcome-to-the-blumhouse/" rel="nofollow">Welcome to the Blumhouse</a>-esque), but I will never moan about the ability to watch movies on the big screen.