Whilst Steven Soderbergh is already hard at work on his upcoming Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett starring spy drama Black Bag, we've all been sat here waiting patiently for the prolific filmmaker's most recent film Presence ever since it premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Today, we got a chance to feel Soderbergh's horror-thriller's, er, well, presence for the first time as American distributor Neon released an eerie first teaser trailer for the Lucy Liu starring movie. Check it out below:
Well that teaser and us have something in common — we're both speechless! Following in the vein of recent cryptic teasers for movies like Longlegs, Cuckoo, and The Substance (that the first two of those are also Neon-distributed features is surely no coincidence), this one really doesn't give anything away at all. But even though you may look at this foreboding, forty-second slow pull back from a still suburban street and pan around a seemingly empty homestead and find yourself wondering what the hell is going on (we sure did), there's no denying it's still effectively chilling stuff. The use of negative space, the tiny distinctive ebbs of a handheld camera, the low rumble and piercing white noise as Soderbergh's impressive list of credits comes and goes... it's all vibes — but what vibes they are!
The logline for the movie, written by David Koepp and co-starring Callina Liang, Julia Fox, Chris Sullivan, Eddy Maday and West Mulholland, is as enigmatic as the teaser, and simply reads: “A family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they’re not alone.” Now, that isn't a lot to go off, admittedly, but we do know from the reviews pouring out of Sundance that Liu, Liang, Maday, and Sullivan play the family in question, who are sold the house by Fox only for daughter Chloe (Liang) to begin sensing something's amiss. It may sound like standard horror fodder, but in signature Soderbergh style, there is a technical twist: the whole thing's shot from the titular entity's POV. Yes, Presence is to poltergeist movies what In A Violent Nature is to slashers, it would seem. Intriguing...
Presence is currently slated for a 17 January cinema release Stateside, and we'll bring you word on UK release plans just as soon as they make their *don't say it don't say it don't say it* presence known. (Sorry!)