The Presence

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 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.

(2010) The Presence SUPERNATURAL DRAMA

Watching this film is like a short story expanded into a long subtle ghost story movie where nothing really happens throughout until the final act. Where the makers are asking us to observe and hold out until near the end is when things really start to happen. Co-produced, written and directed by Tom Provost starring Mira Sorvino as a woman walking into an isolated cabin on a island. And there appears to be a man inside of this cabin that she can't see who happens to be a ghost who is "The Presence" hence the title, he's played by Shane West. As this ghost stands around doing nothing exciting enough to scare her or anyone for that matter, except automatically turning on a record player or dislocating some books, we have come to the conclusion that the ghost is only a neutral ghost. Viewers get to know more information regarding the history of the cabin, as well as another ghost who happens to be up to no good, and doesn't conveniently appear until her boyfriend shows up. All I can say is that to say anymore is pointless, since their isn't really a plot to speak about except to say that the film is not even scary at all. It is however an "unique" one in the sense that in real life when things seem to move out of place, we can sometimes safely assume that it's the result of the ghost that moved those things in the same way people can believe in miracles. That if theirs a good ghost that there also must also be an evil one too, or an undivided one.

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.

My wife and I just watched it, and I thought it was quite good. It is certainly somewhat of a "chick flick", which probably accounts for many of the negative reviews (I actually don't see why so many guys don't like romantic movies). Now, if you try to make too much sense of it from a rational point of view, then you'll be missing the whole point. On the surface, it's a ghost story, but really it's about a woman struggling to come to terms with the male demons from her past and cast them out. It's kind of like abstract art - it's an emotional piece that amplifies what's inside the viewer. It sort of reminded me of "What Dreams May Come", another favorite of mine. I suggest you give it a shot.