A woman goes to the remote cabin she knew as a child, The cabin has a 'Presence' who just stands around with an expression on his face that suggests he has severe constipation. The woman's boyfriend turns up. An evil "Presence" turns up and tries to be threatening but fails. Later on an angelic 'Presence' turns up. It is basically a slow and rather dull ghost story that doesn't make much sense. Nothing is ever explained. (the suicidal birds for one thing) and it is sad to see the movie relying on the hackneyed use of doors banging to try and give a scare. The music score is over emphatic to a ridiculous degree.

Slightly redeeming the film are the pretty cinematography and Mira Sorvino, though even a gifted actor like her can't overcome the poor scripting.

Truthfully, I was not sure what to expect when I sat down to watch this. Opinion about the story appears diverse, love or hate, not middle ground. I think that in itself is a mark of a great movie, no tepid feelings, just love it or hate it.

And this is a great movie. I loved it. Breath-takingly beautiful, the stunning scenery is a character itself. Calm, serene, yet curiously menacing.

The ghost story is genuinely unnerving. His silent presence at first seems benign, harmless, as though he were part of the furniture. I love the opening scenes as we examine his world, moving through every room in the tiny cottage. You get a sense of the smallness and lack of space. The appearance of the woman into this inner desert suddenly feels like over-crowding. She displaces him, he watches her… Tiny clues to his nature and her nature, the emotions subtly begin to shift. His silent anger as she communicates with the outside world. The arrival of the boyfriend, and the ghost is displaced again, the tension slowly escalates.

Tom Provost has written and directed a truly unnerving tale, dark, slightly sinister. Be clear on this, if you like your ghost stories high octane, with an unfeasible body count and everything spelled out for you in blood-stained black and white, this film is not for you. If on the other hand you like your ghost tales to be achingly beautiful and vaguely reminiscent of Japanese cinema, while embracing the spirit that is truly American, you could do a great deal worse than to give this a try.

The first minutes (quite a lot of minutes actually, though I did not count) are completely without any dialog. This seems to work as a silent movie as well. Of course later on, we'll get dialog and we'll get the story going. It is quite original in its theme and what it tries to do. I'd even say it achieves that goal.

Sorvino plays it as good as it gets, but the mentioned pace might feel and lead people into disliking the movie. I wasn't sure at first either. But it's nice seeing something trying to go another route. The cinematography is really good and the sound design fits really good too. We may have some action towards the end, that might feel a bit too much, but it's still true to the nature of the movie.