The Presence

Woman with personal issues goes to a remote place in the woods somewhere to spend some time alone in the cabin she spent her summers as a child. What she doesn't know is that there is some guy (which we the audience can see) who looks like something between a department store mannequin and crew member of the starship Enterprise haunting the place. He does this by standing and staring or sitting and staring. Maybe about 20 minutes in, or so, he swivels an eyeball to the side. Then about 40 minutes in he becomes less like a mannequin and more like crew member of the Enterprise looking for a way to get back to his ship.

I was intrigued when the movie started and I saw the ghost sitting or standing staring. --Right off the bat; just like that; no preamble; as is usually NOT the case with most ghost stories. "Hmm.....this is a different approach", I say's to myself, "Let's see where it goes". I believe I already told you where it went for 40 minutes. The only thing of note in that time is that the woman's boyfriend shows up a little over 20 minutes in or so. Apparently this woman has issues with trusting men due to the sad examples in her life, her grandfather and father. Anyway, the guy shows up, says he hopes he's not intruding, or something. Then some more stuff that was apparently the right thing and that led to a little huggy-huggy and a little kissy-kissy.

After the 40 minutes --hell way before that-- I began to feel this movie wasn't going to be scary. Why do most people love ghost stories? --Because they want to be spooked, of course! Well you will not be scared by this. If you want to be scared you're better off waiting 'till tax time. This movie is a "relationship" and "personal issues" movie hiding in..er..ghostliness. The ghost business was just a backdrop for it. All it did was make a RELATIONSHIP and PERSONAL ISSUES movie "a little unusual". That's it. Now if you don't mind your ghosts being non-scary and being just a background and vehicle for people sorting out their domestic problems, then this is for you. Just add 3 stars to the 3 I'm giving this thing and run out and go see it. However if you want your ghost to freak you out --like I do, then add 0 to my 3 and go do something else. Love, Boloxxxi.

The first minutes (quite a lot of minutes actually, though I did not count) are completely without any dialog. This seems to work as a silent movie as well. Of course later on, we'll get dialog and we'll get the story going. It is quite original in its theme and what it tries to do. I'd even say it achieves that goal.

Sorvino plays it as good as it gets, but the mentioned pace might feel and lead people into disliking the movie. I wasn't sure at first either. But it's nice seeing something trying to go another route. The cinematography is really good and the sound design fits really good too. We may have some action towards the end, that might feel a bit too much, but it's still true to the nature of the movie.

I watched this movie yesterday and was very disappointed. It is definitely not a horror movie, so don't waste your time if your looking for that. Somewhat a thriller, but definitely a drama.

It started out very strange...and boring. I made myself sit and wait to see if it got any better. The first 5 minutes was a waste of time. Still shots of the inside of the house...each room...and they lasted for eternity. It finally found it's way into a "movie". Yes, the acting is great as well as the scenery. I loved the old cabin. It had it's potential to be a very good, scary movie, but it simply lacked that.

There were so many empty holes at several intervals of the movie. The storyline didn't share what was fully going on. No explanation of certain events.

I did watch the entire movie but I could have turned it off at any point as I knew I wasn't going to miss much. If you have nothing else to watch, it's watchable. But if you have an option for another to watch, do so. I would skip this one.

"The Presence" was somewhat of an uneventful and uninspiring movie. It had potential, and I was expecting more of a horror movie. But it turned out to be some kind of sappy story with some apparitions thrown into the storyline.

Now, had the movie left out the ghosts and just dealt with the "demons" that were tormenting the woman (played by Mira Sorvino) it would have come off as a much better movie. Just sticking to dealing with the theme of a woman tormented by her father's abuse and trying to escape the past by going into solitude would have made for a much nicer story. I, personally, didn't get the whole idea with the ghosts. Why were the "good" ghost and the "bad" ghosts there? It was serving no major purpose. And then suddenly there was this "redeeming" ghost appearing (Deobai Oparei) like some savior or saint? No, no, no... I just didn't work.

However, what was working for the movie was the scenery and sets. Being set in an isolated area with lots of great nature is always nice. And the touch with no electricity in the place worked nicely as well.

The movie was slow in getting to the point, and it was slowly building up suspense, but it never really climaxed. And when the movie was over, I was left with a "was that really it?" feeling. The movie had potential to be much more than it turned out to be. But hey, I am not the one who wrote it, I just watched it. And having sat through it till the very end, I can honestly say that "The Presence" is a ghost movie that will fade into oblivion without leaving any lasting impression.

Despite having a relatively small list of actors and actresses, the people in the movie were doing a good enough job. It was nice to see Sorvino in a movie like this, but at times it felt like she wasn't giving the performance all 100% of her focus. And Shane West, as the ghost, was doing a good job, especially because he wasn't saying anything, so it was all just body-acting and mimicking.

If you are looking for a horror movie, then you are going to be disappointed with "The Presence". If you are looking for something in a drama/supernatural category, then you might like this movie. I was disappointed with the outcome of the movie, and I can honestly say that this is a movie that I will never be returning to again.

I am rating the movie a low 4 because it failed to impress me and failed to really entertain me. What is keeping the rating 'up' on my behalf is the tormented past-theme that is in the movie, just a shame that it wasn't the focus part of the storyline.

That feeling on the back of your neck when you're in the house utterly alone, and it's completely silent

except for

that !

That's how this movie builds on you. It doesn't use gobs of red Karo syrup, and no one flies backward on a wire in front of a green screen. It instead plays on your childhood fears when real things go bump.

The house in which the story unfolds is a character unto itself - beautiful and creepy and very well photographed throughout.

A fun and refreshing ghost story, give it a tumble.