The entire film is shot entirely from the ghost's point of view, the audience haunting a family that has recently moved into a New Jersey home, not realizing that something was already living there. Critic Sean Burns says it's a great gimmick,

Steven Soderbergh often applies his brainy, process-based approach to new genres; with Presence, he tries his hand at ghost-story horror.

"I always operate the camera, but this was next level," the director says. "I’m really in there with the actors."