What Lies Beneath is set in Vermont where Claire (Michelle Pfieffer) & Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford) live in a lakeside house, after their daughter Caitlin (Katharine Towne) goes to college & Norman becomes obsessed with his job Claire is left home alone. Claire becomes convinced that the woman next door has been murdered & that her spirit is haunting her house tyring to communicate with her, but the woman turns up safe & well. Claire continues to hear things & strange occurrence's happen which lead her to believe the house is haunted, but by who & what do they want...
Produced & directed by Robert Zemeckis this supernatural ghost story has a touch of psychological thriller about it too & is a well crafted old fashioned spooky tale of dark secrets from the past coming back to hunt the present. The script by Clark Gregg is apparently a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode Mr. Blanchard's Secret (1956) & is a coolly effective supernatural thriller, it takes itself extremely seriously but as a whole it works & succeeds at what it sets out to do. At over two hours in length it is a long film but while watching it it didn't feel that long which is always a good sign, the story is absorbing & gripping as it starts off a lot like Rear Window (1954) but it turns out to be a huge red herring & it ends like some sort of horror themed Fatal Attraction (1987). This is the kind of film where every bit of seemingly useless exposition comes together at the end & is used, from the moment we know that the phones don't work on the bridge you just know it's going to be used somewhere & the explanation by the two scientists about the paralysing drug which stands out at the time as being extraneous is also put to good use before the film finishes. If you have the patience to stick with it, not be put off by a slightly sedate pace then What Lies Beneath is a really good supernatural thriller.
Director Zemeckis made What Lies Beneath while production on another one of his films Cast Away (2000) starring Tom Hanks was shut down so Hanks could lose weight, that in itself seems a bit odd really as I would have thought you needed to give a film all your attention rather than just making one to pass the time. Anyway it didn't do the film any harm in the long run as it's very good, the film is very stylish too with a muted colour scheme that gives everything a dark, eerie overcast look & feel about it. There are plenty of jump out of your seat moments, Zemeckis uses every trick & cliché in the horror film book with people & dogs leaping into the frame unexpectedly, loud music playing when you least expect it although it also has some nice modern CGI computer effects too. The main difference here compared to lots of other horror films is that Zemeckis knows how to make the clichés work & turns in a highly effective film. The one stand out sequence is when Pfieffer is paralysed in the bath as it slowly fills with water, it's one of the most tension filled & suspenseful scenes I can remember seeing in a modern horror flick.
With a supposed budget of about $90,000,000 one has to say that sounds like a hell of a lot of money for a film where not that much actually happens, it takes place almost entirely within one house with minimal effects & a small cast. Making near $30,000,000 on it's opening weekend alone I think I'm right in saying this was a big success & does prove modern audiences can sit & watch a two plus hour film which is mostly exposition based if it's done properly. The acting is very strong from the cast.
What Lies Beneath is a a old school slow moving but involving supernatural horror thriller ghost story that I enjoyed a lot, I can see a lot of people being bored by it but as far as I'm concerned it's their loss.
Produced & directed by Robert Zemeckis this supernatural ghost story has a touch of psychological thriller about it too & is a well crafted old fashioned spooky tale of dark secrets from the past coming back to hunt the present. The script by Clark Gregg is apparently a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode Mr. Blanchard's Secret (1956) & is a coolly effective supernatural thriller, it takes itself extremely seriously but as a whole it works & succeeds at what it sets out to do. At over two hours in length it is a long film but while watching it it didn't feel that long which is always a good sign, the story is absorbing & gripping as it starts off a lot like Rear Window (1954) but it turns out to be a huge red herring & it ends like some sort of horror themed Fatal Attraction (1987). This is the kind of film where every bit of seemingly useless exposition comes together at the end & is used, from the moment we know that the phones don't work on the bridge you just know it's going to be used somewhere & the explanation by the two scientists about the paralysing drug which stands out at the time as being extraneous is also put to good use before the film finishes. If you have the patience to stick with it, not be put off by a slightly sedate pace then What Lies Beneath is a really good supernatural thriller.
Director Zemeckis made What Lies Beneath while production on another one of his films Cast Away (2000) starring Tom Hanks was shut down so Hanks could lose weight, that in itself seems a bit odd really as I would have thought you needed to give a film all your attention rather than just making one to pass the time. Anyway it didn't do the film any harm in the long run as it's very good, the film is very stylish too with a muted colour scheme that gives everything a dark, eerie overcast look & feel about it. There are plenty of jump out of your seat moments, Zemeckis uses every trick & cliché in the horror film book with people & dogs leaping into the frame unexpectedly, loud music playing when you least expect it although it also has some nice modern CGI computer effects too. The main difference here compared to lots of other horror films is that Zemeckis knows how to make the clichés work & turns in a highly effective film. The one stand out sequence is when Pfieffer is paralysed in the bath as it slowly fills with water, it's one of the most tension filled & suspenseful scenes I can remember seeing in a modern horror flick.
With a supposed budget of about $90,000,000 one has to say that sounds like a hell of a lot of money for a film where not that much actually happens, it takes place almost entirely within one house with minimal effects & a small cast. Making near $30,000,000 on it's opening weekend alone I think I'm right in saying this was a big success & does prove modern audiences can sit & watch a two plus hour film which is mostly exposition based if it's done properly. The acting is very strong from the cast.
What Lies Beneath is a a old school slow moving but involving supernatural horror thriller ghost story that I enjoyed a lot, I can see a lot of people being bored by it but as far as I'm concerned it's their loss.