Steven Soderbergh’s camera hovers and swoops as Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and her family meet their estate agent (Julia Fox) in an unfurnished house. The jagged movements reflect the point of view of the titular spook who lives there. It’s a neat, slightly overextended device after some 80 minutes. There is something of A Ghost Story’s temporal lunges as the nuclear family move in, transforming the living space – or its inverse – for the resident spectre.
There is plenty of negative energy among the central quartet for a potentially malevolent entity to make merry. Rebecca is involved in unspecified shady business dealings and coddles her entitled teenage son, Tyler (Eddy Maday). Dad Chris (Chris Sullivan) tries to compensate for his neglected, introverted daughter, Chloe (Callina Liang), who is mourning her best friend, Nadia, following a fatal drug overdose.
Chloe is the only person who can feel the ghost; the spirit, in turn, lurks around Chloe’s wardrobe as she entertains the sexual advances of Tyler’s floppy-haired nogoodnik pal, Ryan (West Mulholland).
Things inevitably go bump in the night – and sometimes during the day. A spiked orange juice is knocked to the ground. An entire shelf collapses. The timing flags that we are dealing with an unseen guardian rather than a spiteful poltergeist.
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The script, from the movie veteran David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible), can’t get around the gimmicky, oppressive first-person camera. There isn’t enough space in the narrowed frame to develop the characters meaningfully. The family dynamics are drawn in the broadest cartoon strokes. A late reveal feels disconnected from the plot.
As with Kimi and Unsane, Soderbergh occasionally has more fun with the constraints than we do. There’s nothing as compelling or creepy as Kristen Stewart’s dance with the unseen in Personal Shopper. We’re never properly spooked. The presence, ironically, lacks presence. An excellent cast and flashy film-making ensure we are entertained, nonetheless.
In cinemas from Friday, January 24th
