In horror cinema, the “haunted house film” occupies a special place. Dependent on a venerable literary heritage, this genre has crossed time and fashions while renewing itself. In this respect, PresenceSteven Soderbergh’s new film, which had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, stands out for its subjective camera approach, which follows from start to finish the point of view of the spirit that haunts the house that a family has just bought. On this Friday the 13th, a guided tour of the film, as well as of a few others that have demonstrated originality in the past. Let’s make it clear from the outset that this exercise, which is intended to be fun, is highly subjective, and therefore absolutely not exhaustive.
Presenceby Steven Soderbergh (2024)
In the vast property they have just purchased, the Payne family is constantly observed without their knowledge by an entity, whose camera replaces the immaterial gaze. Only Chloe (Callina Liang), the couple’s daughter, perceives this “presence” which seems particularly interested in her.
Soderbergh’s film (Out of Sight / Out of sight) is adept at creating ambiguity about the wandering spirit’s intentions. However, the real danger could come from a very human source…
Aside from its successful technical and narrative bias, the film benefits from a screenplay by David Koepp that covers a wide range of sub-themes: bourgeois privilege, parental pressures, the taboo of the favorite child, adolescent depression… All of this, fused together in a cohesive manner, and carried by very good performers, starting with a formidable Lucy Liu.
The Innkeepersby Ti West (2011)
Little known, this fabulous microbudget film by Ti West, future director of X and of Pearltells the story of the last days of operation of an old hotel. It follows a young employee (Sara Paxton) who receives a strange warning from a psychic client (Kelly McGillis) about three ghosts haunting the place.
The denouement is particularly ingenious given the medium’s words concerning the concept of temporality, which is not the same for spirits as for humans. On this precise point, Soderbergh’s film joins West’s. The Innkeepers is a film that slowly but surely chills the blood, and whose logic is only fully appreciated on a second viewing.
Paranormal Activity (Paranormal activity), by Oren Peli (2007)
As for Presencewhich immediately strikes you with Paranormal Activityis its unprecedented technical challenge. Namely, to present the film as the “objective” audiovisual content filmed by the cameras that a couple (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) placed in various rooms of their house in order to capture supernatural manifestations.
Taking up and improving the formula of “found images” (“ found footage ”) popularized by The Blair Witch Project (The Blair Project), Oren Peli assembles sequences of everyday life whose banality serves to make us lower our guard. When they occur, the jolts literally make us jump. Another microbudget film, Paranormal Activity not only made a fortune, but had considerable legitimate and illegitimate descendants.
Ghostwatchby Lesley Manning and Stephen Volk (1992)
When it was televised in the UK in 1992, this “documentary” fooled the public: BBC1 received about a million phone calls, some angry, some delighted. Filmed and edited exactly like a long television report, Ghostwatch sees a TV crew arrive at the home of Pamela, the single mother of young Suzanne and Kim, who claim that their house is haunted.
The bill being truer than true, each twist produces its effect, including a handful of frankly terrifying moments. Note that the fictional plot is partially based on a famous case that inspired the second part of the saga The Conjuring (The Conjuration).
Poltergeist (Poltergeist. The revenge of the ghosts), by Tobe Hooper (1982)
Produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre / Saw massacre), Poltergeist is the first blockbuster haunted house. While the abundant and cutting-edge special effects (for the time) contributed to the film’s enormous success, it is first and foremost the authenticity of the characters (and their actors) that makes the film compelling.
So, among several iconic scenes, one of the most famous has nothing to do with ghosts, but simply consists of a moment of intimacy between the two parents (JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson) who smoke a joint in bed while messing around. We will search in vain for this scene in the remake of 2015.
The Shining (Shining. The child of light), by Stanley Kubrick (1980)
Loosely adapted from the novel by Stephen King, The Shining is, like The Innkeepersset in a hotel where a family is still the target of ghosts. Hired to watch over the establishment, closed and landlocked during the winter, a man (Jack Nicholson) comes, like his predecessor, to want to kill his wife (Shelley Duvall) and child (Danny Lloyd).
Not everything works in this film, which was lukewarmly received at the time but subsequently praised, thanks to the cult of Stanley Kubrick, but it is undeniable that The Shining contains some of the most indelible images in the history of cinema. The twin girls at the end of the corridor, the orange and crimson carpet with hexagonal patterns, the mad grin of Jack Nicholson sticking his head through the crack he has just made in the bathroom door, the rivers of blood flowing from the elevators…
The Changeling (The Devil’s Child), by Peter Medak (1980)
For his part, The Changeling brings together all the qualities of a good haunted house story (a presence, objects that seem to move on their own, a séance, etc.), as well as those of a good detective film. In fact, the mystery of the ghost’s identity almost gives a detective feel to this feature film, which is particularly popular with Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro.
George C. Scott plays a grieving composer who discovers that the old house he has rented is haunted by the spirit of a child. Formidably constructed and full of atmosphere, The Changeling has been the subject of many tributes, especially the red ball sequence (anyone who has seen or will see the film will understand).
The Haunting (The Devil’s House), by Robert Wise (1963)
This is a rare example where the adaptation of a literary masterpiece (by Shirley Jackson) has spawned a cinematic masterpiece (by Robert Wise). The Haunting tells the story of how a scientist’s experiment in bringing together a disparate group of strangers in a supposedly haunted mansion turns into a nightmare.
Previously director of West Side Story and later of The Sound of Music (The Sound of Music), Robert Wise multiplies the striking low-angle shots, the abrupt close-ups, the disturbing sequence shots, the unusual distorting wide-angle shots… Above all, his brilliant staging ends up giving the impression that the manor is alive.
As a lonely woman who rejoices at having been chosen for something for the first time in her life, Julie Harris is poignant.
The Innocents (The innocents), by Jack Clayton (1961)
Co-written by Truman Capote, The Innocents is by far the best of the myriad adaptations of Henry James’ novel. The Turn of the Screw (The turn of the screw). Deborah Kerr delivers a feverish performance as a governess who comes to suspect that the two children in her care are “possessed” by the vile spirits of a deceased servant couple.
Exquisitely crafted by Jack Clayton (The Great Gatsby / The Great Gatsby), and helped by the photography direction full of deep shadows and chiaroscuro of Freddie Francis, The Innocents leaves doubts hanging until the end: does the protagonist see clearly, or is she losing her mind? So, is it a fantastic drama, or a psychological drama?
Apart from inducing real chills, all these works almost manage to make us believe in ghosts. This is thanks to their power of persuasion, as well as their efforts at reinvention.
The movie Presence will be released in 2025. The titles mentioned are available on VOD on several platforms.
François Lévesque is in Toronto thanks in part to the support of Telefilm Canada.