The Presence has a delicious Easter egg that only horror fans will notice

Steven Soderbergh’s “Presence” is steadily building a reputation as an unconventional ghost story, and the maverick director chooses, in fact, to play the ghost himself and film the entire movie from the ghost’s point of view. As my review from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (where the film premiered) explains, this technique allows “Presence” to straddle the line between a found footage film and a character POV film in a subversively clever way: as the camera is disembodied enough to move at will and be present in situations that another human person could not observe, Soderbergh never lets us forget the fact that there is an identity in this point of view, even if the entity itself does not know it. who they are at the beginning.

This perspective means that “Presence” is less of a terrifying supernatural horror film and more of a thoughtful, character-driven thriller, because after all, we know where the ghost is at all times, even when the other characters don’t. It also certainly makes “Presence” a landmark film in the annals of haunted house movies, changing what has been the norm in the subgenre for decades. Soderbergh seems to be well aware of this fact, as seen in a charming Easter egg within the film that horror fans and, in particular, Tobe Hooper fans will discover right away. Paying homage to 1982’s “Poltergeist” with this Easter egg, Soderbergh points to “Presence” as the next step in the evolution of the haunted house movie.

The haunted house movie was born from traditions seen in Gothic literature, in which some dark, terrible, and mysterious events were typically relegated to distant and remote homes (not to mention large and foreboding ones). As such, many of the haunted house films of classic Hollywood and beyond featured characters traveling to these sinister places, usually discovering at some point that some ancient curse, legend, or incident occurred there many years ago, as in one of the works seminal films of the subgenre, 1944’s “The Uninvited.” Then, around the 1960s, haunted house films began to expand beyond the “destiny haunted house” which had been the tradition. In it, the characters actively set out to investigate the paranormal (as in “The Haunting” and “The Legend of Hell House”), as well as attempt to endure or exorcise the evil spirits that already lived with them (as in “The Amityville Horror” ). “).

“Poltergeist” was the first mainstream horror film to bring the haunted house out of the remote corners of literal distance and the figurative past. Instead, it brought paranormal activity right to every suburbanite’s front door. In the film, the family at the center of the story does not buy a creepy old mansion with a history of violence, but rather a new luxury home. Of course, it turns out that the house may be new, but the land it sits on is old, and the unscrupulous developers failed to inform the owners that they couldn’t relocate the cemetery that was once (or rather, still) there. it is). ). “Poltergeist” is when the haunted house movie literally came home.

For the opening and ending titles of “Presence”, the font used is almost exactly the same as that seen in “Poltergeist”. It’s essentially Helvetica Medium (or possibly Bold) with each letter outlined in white, and its haunting simplicity still has an eerie power for anyone who remembers the marketing materials for “Poltergeist.” Ironically, those titles are the first images seen in both films, hence the font seems like a deliberate homage on the part of “Presence.”

David Koepp’s script for “Presence” has its roots in the ghost story and haunted house film tradition: the family in the film is going through numerous financial and interpersonal problems; when they stumble upon the supernatural presence in their new home, they are skeptical but still decide to investigate (and involve a medium in this, naturally); and there are several mysteries to solve: not only who the ghost could have been and what he wants, but also what could be responsible for the deaths of several teenage girls in the city. In this sense, it’s a little more classic than even “Poltergeist.” However, Soderbergh’s choice to tell the story in this way, not only emphasizing the spirit’s point of view but relying on pain rather than fears, gives “Presence” that subversive twist that puts it on par from Hooper’s film.

The “Poltergeist” Easter egg isn’t the only connection “Presence” has to other movies (there is a connection between the movie and Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” though explaining why would be a spoiler), but it’s the most telling. . If “Poltergeist” was Hooper’s way of announcing to Americans that we needed to acknowledge our country’s sordid history before we could truly move on, then “Presence” is Soderbergh and Koepp’s acknowledgment of how many of us feel powerless. to stop the horrible events we are experiencing. see in front of us. If we’re not careful, we could all end up like the ghost in the movie, unable to move on until we correct a mistake we couldn’t recognize when we were alive. Maybe “Presence” is pretty scary after all.