Brian's Review - The Presence

Don't go number two in the haunted outhouse.

Released: 2010
Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Horror

The haunted house genre is one of my favorites by far - who doesn't fear what goes bump in the night, especially when said bumping occurs in your own presumably-safe abode? It's a concept that's been beaten to death, but unfortunately one that's rarely done well, with most films either sticking to formulaic templates or choosing to remake originally-terrifying Asian horror flicks as watered-down, brainless crap. "The Presence" gets some points for falling into neither of these categories, breaking the mold in both its presentation and pacing, but nothing beyond its own unorthodox approach allows it to have any true staying power. The cinematography is splendid here, highlighting still, brooding environments, while generating chills not through cheap jump-scares, but rather with subtle imagery and atmosphere. The slowly-swelling pacing of "The Presence" may turn off some: the character interactions are pretty limited for the first 20 or so minutes of this movie, with minor creepy moments occurring sporadically throughout, but things don't really start picking up until near the end. The big blank space that makes up the body of this film is used for some very clunky and mainly irrelevant backstory development, as well as a scene where the director tries to scare us with a shaking outhouse. Yes, you read that right: a shaking outhouse. While the marketing department for this movie attempted to sell "horror" as one of its sub-genres, this honestly borders on false advertising; the scares here are about as frightening as a napping kitten. Don't get me wrong - there's plenty of moments and situations that add legitimate creep-factor to this film, but "horror" this most certainly is not. "The Presence" has enough unconventionality to keep things at least semi-interesting, as I didn't ever consider turning it off, and actually wanted to find out what would happen next, but it really doesn't possess a profound enough punch to have any replay value. It could definitely be worth a rental to some (notice "some," not "all"), but probably shouldn't be the first choice on anybody's list. I sincerely applaud the efforts to go above and beyond the norm here, but, much like a shaking outhouse in the woods, it's only minimally frightening and mostly lame.

Rating (out of 5): 2.5