In Steven Soderbergh's Presence, fans experience a unique take on the paranormal sub-genre. This film depicts a haunted house, but this time, the viewers watch the story unfolding from the ghost's perspective. It's an intriguing point-of-view, listening in as the ghost soaks in the turmoil with Chloe's family.

Each member has a lot going on. Chloe's mother, Lucy Liu's Rebekah, favors her son, Tyler, and wants him to succeed. Together, they think Chloe is exaggerating her depression after two of her friends died from drug overdoses. Additionally, Chloe's father, Chris, struggles with his wife and son lacking compassion. In time, Presence builds to a twist ending that reveals the ghost is actually a good person, but it would have been better to unpack everything as a TV series.

. Rebekah is involved in some kind of fraud. She secretly makes calls and assures Chris everything is alright. Chris phones lawyers as well, wondering about how to arrange a divorce without harming his daughter's mental health. This premise has a lot of creative meat to explore, especially as the ghost watches the domestic disputes. It constantly peeks at the parents' drinking issues, as if to say this isn't the cure to their denial.

Clearly, these moments affect the ghost. In addition, r. Chloe has a rebellious edge, so a TV series could have mapped out a lot more to illustrate why she's a pariah. Her lashing out and being unreasonable would have shown the ghost and the audience why this rift isn't condoned.

This could have explained the sibling rivalry more, why Tyler hates her, and what pushes him to be a bully, and surround himself with toxic boys at school. . In just under 90 minutes, Soderbergh misses key depth to these crucial arcs -- all poignant points tethered to the ghost's purpose and identity in this ghost movie.

In the Presence ending, Tyler's sinister friend, Ryan, is revealed to be the one who orchestrated the girls' deaths. He's also drugging and having sex with Chloe. He quickly switches from being a genuinely nice guy to a rapist who whispers about control, having power and being a serial killer as he tries to suffocate her in her room. . It's such a compressed arc, lacking that organic energy to the plot.

Ryan and Chloe did connect as kindred spirits, so it's a big swerve that needs more foundation. Insight into Ryan and Tyler talking about their days at school and the ghost hearing clues about how Ryan has shady hobbies would have padded his story better and created an air of mystery. It's hard to think the police wouldn't find his DNA around or his footprints at all the crime scenes. .

Presence tries to paint Ryan as this mastermind, a la Jigsaw from the Saw movies, but it falls flat. More episodes could have illustrated why he also chose to be wicked to Chloe, who already liked him. . In short, there is a lot of unexplored backstory regarding, not just his, but everyone else's motivations, dynamic and chemistry.

This isn't a typical movie about quick jump scares. It's an emotionally turbulent tale, with sensitive topics and character portraits. . This way, the ghost would have spied in more on each individual and added the right building blocks to the bombshell twist that Tyler -- after killing Ryan -- was indeed seeking redemption by saving the sister he once loved and adored. Ultimately, five or six episodes would have created the chapters to map everything out as Soderbergh built towards that sentimental boiling point.

Presence is now in theaters.