Presence is about a family that moves into a new house. There's mom Rebekah, dad Chris, and two teenagers - Tyler and Chloe. The whole movie is filmed like we're seeing through the eyes of an invisible ghost that's watching this family.
Chloe is really sad because her best friend Nadia died recently. Tyler, her brother, isn't very nice to her and seems mean sometimes. Their mom is busy with work stuff and doesn't pay much attention to what's happening with her kids.
Strange things start happening in the house. Objects move around, rooms get messed up, and Chloe thinks there's a ghost. A psychic lady comes and says yes, there's a spirit in the house, but it's not trying to hurt anyone - it's trying to protect someone.
Tyler makes friends with a new kid named Ryan. Ryan seems nice at first, but he's actually very dangerous. Near the end of the movie, Ryan gives Chloe drugs to make her sleepy and tries to hurt her. He also tells her that he killed her friend Nadia and another girl too.
But then the ghost wakes up Tyler, and Tyler runs to help his sister. Tyler and Ryan fight, and they both fall out of a window. Both of them die.
Here's the big twist: the ghost we've been watching through the whole movie was actually Tyler's spirit from the future. After Tyler died, his ghost somehow went back in time to try to save his sister. So Tyler's ghost was watching his own family and trying to warn them about Ryan, even though Tyler himself didn't know he was a ghost.
At the end, the family is packing to leave the house. The mom sees Tyler's face reflected in a mirror and starts crying because she realizes what happened. Tyler's ghost finally goes away because he did what he came to do - he saved Chloe.
So the whole movie was about a brother trying to protect his sister, even though it cost him his life. It's sad but also shows how much Tyler really loved Chloe, even though he wasn't always nice to her when he was alive.
I have to say, this movie really divided audiences. If you went in expecting a scary horror movie with lots of jumps and frights, you probably left feeling bored and confused. But if you were open to something different, you might have found it really moving and emotional.
The biggest issues I noticed were that it moved pretty slowly, the teenage dialogue felt fake and awkward, and some parts of the story didn't quite add up. Like, why could the ghost destroy an entire room but couldn't stop Ryan more effectively? And the first-person POV camera angle isn't for everyone - it can be really disorienting and might make some viewers feel motion sick from all the floating movement throughout the film.
What really stood out though was Chris Sullivan as the dad – he felt like one of the most genuine, caring fathers I've seen in movies recently. And the camera work was genuinely unique. Seeing everything through the ghost's eyes made it feel intimate and different from typical supernatural films.
This isn't really a horror movie at all. It's more about family relationships, regret, and love. If you're looking for scares, you'll be disappointed. But if you want something that might make you think about family bonds and second chances, it might surprise you. The ending was one of the best twists I've ever seen, even though the journey there felt slow at times.
Watch on Apple TV