Steven Soderbergh is back with his first film since 2023’s “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.” His latest offering, “Presence,” is a haunted house thriller that plays with the horror subgenre’s conventions by assuming the point-of-view of its central, unsettled specter. The film continues Soderbergh’s ongoing fascination with playing with conventional form, and it marks one of the few times that the director has stepped foot into full-fledged horror territory.
“Presence” is not the first big-screen ghost story to subvert viewers’ expectations. The genre has, in fact, inspired more than a few unpredictable, jaw-droppingly inventive movies. Here are five you should watch that, like “Presence,” will keep you guessing and anxious to see what happens next.
“The Others” (2001)
“The Others” may not be the most well-known film Nicole Kidman has ever starred in, but among those who have seen it, it is beloved. That is for good reason, too. The 2001 psychological horror film from director Alejandro Amenábar is an unforgettable head trip overflowing with gothic atmosphere. Set in 1945 Jersey, the movie follows a mother (Kidman) and her two children as they experience unnerving paranormal events at their large, haunted estate.
Like many classic ghost movies, “The Others” is perhaps best known for its climactic twist — one which recontextualizes the entire film and reveals the countless layers of tragedy lurking beneath its surface. But the film works even when you know its secrets. The moody spell it casts is just as powerful upon subsequent rewatches as it is the first time you sit through it.
“The Sixth Sense” (1999)
Its twist may be as widely known now as Luke Skywalker’s parentage, but “The Sixth Sense” nonetheless still holds the title of the most surprising ghost movie that Hollywood has ever produced. Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s 1999 hit about a traumatized child psychologist (Bruce Willis) whose latest patient (Haley Joel Osment) claims to “see dead people” is an immaculately crafted, affecting cinematic piece that has a little bit of everything for everyone.
Its first half, which sticks mostly to the perspective of Willis’ Malcolm Crowe, operates more like a somber adult drama than a horror film. Once “The Sixth Sense” pushes viewers into the world of Osment’s young Cole, though, the movie suddenly becomes filled with terror and dread. This shift not only disorients viewers and gives “The Sixth Sense” a jolting midpoint reset, but it also paves the way for the film’s moving and immensely satisfying final third, the power and elegance of which Shyamalan has yet to match even 26 years later.
“Talk to Me” (2022)
Danny and Michael Philippou’s feature directorial debut, “Talk to Me,” is a full-throated supernatural horror film that sets its own rules and follows them all the way to its own, merciless end. Set in contemporary Australia, the A24 thriller follows a group of teenagers who start experimenting with a severed, embalmed hand that allows them to commune with spirits from the other side, but only after inviting them into their bodies. It is a bad idea destined to go wrong.
It is a credit to “Talk to Me,” though, that the moment when everything inevitably goes off the rails still hits with the bone-crunching force of a freight train. From that point on, “Talk to Me” begins to spiral further and further into itself — blurring the line separating life from death until you are left asking not only what is real and what is not, but whether or not death’s embrace is as cold as the saying goes. A lot of modern horror movies have explored the blunt-force power of grief in recent years, but few have evoked its hungry, seemingly unending appetite as well or as viscerally as “Talk to Me.”
10 Must-See Horror Movies for Gen Z
“A Ghost Story” (2017)
Most ghost movies are told from the perspectives of those being haunted. Some, like a few entries on this list, try to make it unclear who is alive and who is dead. Others attempt to capture what being a ghost — and knowing that you actually are one — might look and feel like. “Presence” does that, and so does “A Ghost Story.” The latter film, written and directed by “The Green Knight” filmmaker David Lowery, follows a man (Casey Affleck) who dies suddenly in a car accident, leaving his wife (Rooney Mara) a widow. Rather than telling the story of Mara’s grief-stricken woman, however, “A Ghost Story” sticks with Affleck’s dead persona.
Lowery uses a literal white bedsheet with round black eyes cut into it to visualize his protagonist’s spectral state, and he follows him as time passes and the world changes around him. Unlike most ghost movies, which seek to scare and disturb you, “A Ghost Story” offers a more contemplative, introspective viewing experience. By the time it has reached its time-bending conclusion, the film has emerged as a thoughtful, deeply felt rumination on the importance of moving on — even when we do not feel like we can.
“The Uninvited” (1944)
It would be a mistake to make a list about must-see ghost movies without including at least one black-and-white entry, and “The Uninvited” is as inventive and good as any of them. Director Lewis Allen’s underrated horror film follows a British brother and sister (Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey) who buy an abandoned seaside home only to discover that it is haunted by a female ghost, whose spectral sobs understandably unnerve them. Things grow only more complicated when Milland’s Roderick falls in love with Stella (Gail Russell), a local girl who feels strangely drawn to their home, despite it being the site of her mother’s death.
“The Uninvited” proceeds to stack its mysteries on top of each other, all while delivering one chilling, ingenious scare after another. The film’s third act is punctuated by twists that surprisingly and movingly delineate the difference between a vengeful spirit and one whose final wishes simply have yet to be fulfilled. The movie is playful, romantic, and, at times, genuinely scary, and it deserves to be more widely known than it is, which may be why Criterion inducted it into its collection years ago.
