A goodly number of critics liked Steven Soderbergh‘s Presence (2024), but why did a lot of them pan it? Written by David Koepp, it’s a mainly agreeable spook tale with nifty shooting and editing by Soderbergh and some fine acting. A worried but giving ghost, or spirit, is in the new home of a married couple with two kids. Dad—Chris Sullivan—hires a woman with an extra sense who is not a psychic (mysteries abound here) to discover what’s going on. The failure of death to prevent a spiritual or supernatural existence is a theme in the film, as is familial near-despair. The denouement is weak but Presence as a whole is recommendable.

(Does Lucy Liu get a comeuppance?)