Why does Steven Soderbergh compare horror movies to single-use plastic?
From the slick heists of the Ocean’s series to the real-life drama of Erin Brockovich to the oiled-up swagger of Magic Mike, Steven Soderbergh has done it all. Now, the acclaimed director has taken on the world of horror with his latest film, Presence, which is set for a cinematic release in early 2025 following a rapturous reception at the Sundance Film Festival.
Considering he’s been making movies for the best part of 40 years, one would assume Soderbergh would know all about a genre as massive as horror. However, by his own admission, he’s something of a novice. “I’m not an aficionado of horror films,” he told Filmmaker. “But the ones that I think are good resonate after.” However, if there are horrors that Soderbergh enjoys, it stands to reason that there are others that he doesn’t.
“You see a lot of horror films that feel very much like single-use plastic, where you don’t really think about them again,” he said. Soderbergh didn’t name any of these environmentally damaging pictures, but as he’s been a vocal critic of Hollywood putting profit ahead of creativity for basically his entire career, it’s easy to take an educated guess at some of the works he’s referring to.
When it came to making Presence, which stars Lucy Liu and Chris Sullivan as parents of two children who move into a haunted house, the Traffic director was keen not to just focus on scaring the audience. The film is about the dissolution of a family unit and the clashes between the different members brought on by the stress of their situation, with the ghost story aspect playing second fiddle to more relatable interpersonal issues.
Despite professing not to know that much about the genre, Soderbergh has nailed the essence of what good horror should be. All the best examples use their more fantastical elements to emphasise smaller, more grounded themes. Rosemary’s Baby is about the trauma of motherhood; It Follows is about sexual liberation; I Saw the TV Glow is an allegory for the transgender experience. From its very inception, horror cinema has served to highlight everyday struggles by amplifying them to the extreme and, by all accounts, Presence perfectly contributes to this great tradition.
In the same interview, Soderbergh admitted he thoroughly enjoyed shooting his latest project. The camera plays a crucial role in Presence, which unfolds entirely in the first person, often functioning as its own character. He described the process as “really pleasurable” since it gave him a unique perspective as both the creator of and a witness to the story’s events.
“If you shot this conventionally, it’s not interesting,” he said in relation to the film, before adding that he didn’t want people to see it and wonder, “I don’t know why he made that.” Soderbergh has never done anything by halves and has strived for perfection his entire working life. This is particularly impressive when you look at how prolific he’s been, regularly releasing more than one film in a calendar year. As it stands, Presence has received near-universal acclaim from critics, with many citing it as another example of the maestro’s natural ability to play with cinematic form.
