A Present Failure: The horror film “Presence,” directed by Steven Soderbergh, is a disappointing watch because of it’s bland direction and writing

“Presence” has condemned the arthouse. In what feels like an unintentional parody of its genre, Steven Soderbergh’s newest film “Presence” showcases the pitfalls in the landscape of modern cinema.

Produced by the studio NEON, “Presence” is an arthouse horror film, a genre that tells stories in an artistic way with horror elements. The film follows a family breaking apart as they unravel the identity of the spirit that haunts their home.

Unfortunately, “Presence” fails as a film, showcasing trends that have plagued the theaters in recent years. Its flat visual color washes, poor acting, gimmicky nature and stale dialogue is a poor attempt to pander to the contemporary film fan.

The film’s first person cinematography, meant to show the point of view of the spirit haunting the family, is the strongest of the film’s weak points. It serves as one of the only unique aspects, yet still feels nothing more than an artistically bankrupt gimmick to mask the rest of the film’s missteps such as its stiff writing and acting. Evident during the scenes depicting the families’ contentions with one another, the tension felt inauthentic with the oftentimes amateur acting.

The aesthetic choices were nothing but bland — opting for a stiff color palette which offered nothing to the visual artistry of the film.

To the film’s credit, I found the plot interesting due to its uniqueness. However, the dialogue was infatuated with clichés that made it hard to deliver a striking story. The pinnacle example is during a scene of the family discussing the spirit that haunts their home. They hit the audience with a title drop, “Do you mean like a? A presence.”

The stiff acting was brutal to watch unfold, akin to mannequins reading a script. I found it hard to take seriously, especially during the climax of the movie which dealt with death.

“Presence” presents itself as an arthouse horror film. Yet that’s only substantiated because it was produced by the studio, NEON, which has experience in the genre. Instead, the most frightening part of the film is its vapid nature, and the most artful aspect was, well, I couldn’t find it.

To follow in the footsteps of clichés this movie held near and dear, the real presence all along was the presence of a bad movie in theaters.