Steven Soderbergh’s Haunting Return to Horror: First Trailer for Presence Offers a Chilling Glimpse into a Supernatural World

By DaMarko Webster

Steven Soderbergh, a filmmaker known for his genre-bending approach, is back with a chilling supernatural horror film, Presence, and Neon has just dropped the first trailer. The upcoming thriller offers a fresh twist on ghost stories by putting viewers in the point of view of the unseen presence haunting a family. The trailer’s tension-filled atmosphere and clever perspective hint at a unique, terrifying experience where the entity’s gaze makes every vulnerable moment of the family disturbingly intimate.

The film features a star-studded cast led by Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, and Julia Fox. Behind the camera, producers Julie M. Anderson and Ken Meyers bring the project to life, with Presence marking a collaboration between Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp, who also penned Kimi with him. Soderbergh’s direction and Koepp’s writing promise a story as gripping as it is unnerving, diving into the breakdown of relationships under the supernatural strain.

Premiering to acclaim at Sundance 2024, Presence left audiences buzzing and earned a $5 million acquisition deal from Neon, signaling high expectations from horror fans and critics alike. Soderbergh describes his approach as a “Trojan horse” of horror, using the paranormal element to showcase a family in crisis. “Everything is revealed through the glimpses of this family that this presence sees,” he told Variety. “The whole ghost genre element is a Trojan horse to show a group of people in danger of falling apart.”

Mark your calendars, as Presence will make its way into theaters on January 24, 2025, offering a spine-tingling entry into the new year’s horror lineup. Until then, get a taste of Soderbergh’s latest by watching the haunting trailer above.