IMDB Rating: 6.50, 28989 votes |
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Norman Spencer, a university research scientist, is growing more and more concerned about his wife, Claire, a retired concert cellist who a year ago was involved in a serious auto accident, and who has just sent off her daughter Caitlin (Norman's stepdaughter) to college. Now, Claire reports hearing voices and witnessing eerie occurrences in and around their lakeside Vermont home, including seeing the face of a young woman reflected in water. An increasingly frightened Claire thinks the phenomena have something to do with the couple living next door, especially since the wife has disappeared without apparent explanation. At her husband's urging, Claire starts to see a therapist; she tells him she thinks the house is being haunted by a ghost. His advice? Try to make contact. Enlisting the help of her best friend, Jody, and a ouija board, Claire seeks to find out the truth of What Lies Beneath.Actors
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29 Comments
Actually pretty good
Plot: 7
Originality: 5
Visuals: 6
Acting: 6
Overall: 6
I never want to see this movie again.
Very suspenseful and scary. Entertaining story.
It’s scary
I actually own this movie, so you can guess I liked it. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good scare. It’s not a slasher film, but more of a suspense. The acting was good, the directing was Excellent, but the script was poorly written. I didn’t like the way the story fit together.
5 says it all Average Hollywood fare
Excellent Movie… Unpredictable…
What Lies Beneath is a great thriller
What Lies Beneath is a movie that will have you looking behind you a few times to see "what is lying beneath" your cough. I thorougly enjoyed the movie and was caught up in the web that was laid before me. I watched the movie late one night and had to keep checking behind me as I was so involved with the characters, but I love movies like this so 2 thumbs up.
Cookbook plot. Good direction, poor acting.
Take A Bath
If you have seen the commercials and trailer for the new Robert Zemeckis thriller, What Lies Beneath, you may think that the ad campaign gave away a lot of the plot. I would certainly include myself in that group. And watching the first hour and a half of the film, it plays exactly as the ads hinted towards. What Lies Beneath is extremely tedious in setting the story up, but the pay-off is well worth the wait.
The plot for this film was supposedly "under wraps," according to the film’s cast and crew and the various stories about the film. So when I started seeing the trailers and commercials, I thought that there MUST be something hidden. And I was right…eventually. If you think you know everything about What Lies Beneath, you are half-right, unless you’ve seen it, in which case you’re 100 percent right. I could strongly make the case, however, that if you show up for the final forty minutes of the film, you will probably understand everything and save yourself an hour and a half.
Zemeckis keeps his film moving at a very slow pace. When Michelle Pfeiffer makes her "sudden" realizations throughout the first half of the film, I found myself ten minutes ahead of her. It isn’t due to a bad story, but rather, to sheer knowledge of the plot. If you have not seen any ads or trailers for What Lies Beneath, you will thoroughly enjoy watching it. On the other hand, if you have seen them, you’ll be squirming in your seat until the last forty minutes.
Zemeckis throws in a bunch of "scary" moments designed to make you jump out of your seat. And while the first one or two will genuinely surprise, it eventually becomes a guessing game. I watched Jaws a week ago on DVD, so I’ll use this ultimate thriller to compare to what Zemeckis was trying to accomplish. If you have seen Jaws (which I bet many of you have), you will always recall Jaws’s theme: dun dun…dun dun…dun dun dun dun. You get the point. Zemeckis uses Alan Silvestri’s screechy score (eerily reminicisent of the music to Psycho) to try and scare the wits out of the audience. And it works…the first time. In Jaws, when the shark makes one of his appearances, the Jaws music doesn’t play. In that case, it turns out that two kids were playing a practical joke. Of course, everyone is on the edge of their seat during this scene, and we don’t realize the subtlety of the music’s hints until afterwards. In What Lies Beneath, Zemeckis has these mishap scenes where a character gets worked up over nothing, but the screechy music is still the same. Thus, instead of being scared, I was merely trying to figure out if a ghost was going to pop up behind Michelle Pfeiffer or if it was just going be the dog again. This takes a lot of the fun out of this thriller, which is why What Lies Beneath is only a decent Jaws in Vermont.
Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer are the vets leading the way for this thriller, but their weak characters prevent them from doing much until the end of the film when Zemeckis finally puts the "thrill" in "thriller" (it’s cheesy, I know, but very suitable). Pfeiffer plays Claire Spencer, wife of scientific genius Norman Spencer. You’d expect Pfeiffer, a proven acting vet, would get to play a strong female lead. Instead, she gets a vulnerable, whiny and spooked wife that relies on her husband and is basically a weak woman who is easily spooked. Ford plays a mysterious man that we never get the sense of until the end, which barely touched on what could have been a great and deep character.
Well, now it is time to gush. The final forty minutes of What Lies Beneath are perfect summer fare that will engage and shock you. It actually spooks you and lets the characters fight for their lives. The film seems to drag on when it reaches the end, which makes the major plot twist both surprising and interesting. It makes the prior hour and a half livable, and also makes that ticket worth most of what you paid for it. I don’t want to spoil this plot twist for you, but it is wonderful and isn’t spoiled in the advertising.
What Lies Beneath isn’t Oscar fare, despite the wonderful names throughout the cast and crew. The final forty minutes are great, and they level out the tedious and needless hour and a half that preceeded it. What Lies Beneath is undoubtedly the best film of the summer so far, except for that little blockbuster called M:I-2. So what lies beneath What Lies Beneath? A plot twist that saves what could have become predictable summer fare.
This movie definately had some moments worth not missing
This was a good movie. You would really like this movie if you like to be scared out of your mind. For someone who normally doesn’t watch horror films I liked it a lot. Warning there is a lot of blood. Michelle Pfeifer and Harrison Ford were a great team. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes movies like Scream 1,2,3 and HalloweenH20.
Not great, but worth seeing.
Good jumpy-outy parts. Lots of Hitchcock swipes to amuse you between shocks.
This is one huge Hitchcock homage, with a bunch of jumpy-outy parts in between. From Rear Window to Vertigo to North by Northwest to Psycho, you just can’t stop the madness with those Hitch references. It’s pretty cool, actually. Much more interesting than the actual plot of the flick, which is rather pedestrian.
And while you’ve got your eyes peeled for that Dial M for Murder shot, Zemeckis throws a good amound of shocking, jumpy-outy moments at you. Most of them got me, and there’s one in particular that made me jump out of my skin.
Don’t expect to much from this thing, and you’ll have a good time.
I thought it was good, more suspense then the teen horror flicks. Worth seeing.
see below
This had the premise of a scary movie BUT!!
#1 A dog dosen’t act like the one filmed
#2 Halothane dosen’t even remote act like it shows in the story
#3 Why involve Duke U.? Because they had an embarassment 50 years ago?
#4 Why have a psychiatrist? He could of helped the show if utilized properly.
# etc.It all adds up the awfull direction.
Do not waste your time seeing this
A scary movie that relies more on LOUD music to scare you, not on what is on the screen. It is your typical Hollywood movie that lacks any substance and no new original picture–relying on and long overused script that the person least likely is likely the killer.
The producers should have spent their money on big script writers instead of big named actors.
Very cleverly done, it takes the time to develop the characters and plot without sacrificing intensity. We are led astray down one path, only to be yanked back and thrown down another as Zemekis endows this wonderfully dark thriller with all kinds of twists and turns. It’s scary at times, and creepy at others, but not really a horror flick. Very enjoyable, and one of the better movies of the summer. A really nice change of pace for Harrison Ford, who was a nice casting move opposite Michelle Pfieffer.
Could have been an hour shorter…
This is one long and put together story, not worth the admission fee…
Two good surprises and that’s it, could have been shorter… Not worth the admission prize!!!
Kept me on the edge of my seat! A first for any movie I’ve seen…
What Lies Beneath, by director Robert Zemeckis (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) is a great achievement in Hitchcock-esque film making. That is, effective cinema that keeps your senses on the verge of fright.
The movie stars Michelle Pfeiffer as Clare Spencer, loving wife of Doctor Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford). She is dedicated to her husband and stands by his every move. However, someone has come back from the spirit realm with a dark secret.
The movie takes a step back from recent ventures that consist of over-the-top special effects and gore. Instead, it focuses on the traditional methods of a good ghost story, methods founded by acclaimed director, Alfred Hitchcock. Whereas, it is more important to focus on supernatural elements like a cracked mirror or a door that opens without wind or force.
Silence is the key in this movie which is effectively used without being overdone. This is what keeps everyone on the edge of their seats, the ‘what’s beyond’ feeling that relies on heavy breathing, light footsteps and chills up the spine.
Great performances by Pfeiffer and Ford that bring together this supernatural ghost film. It is the only movie in a long time that got my heart pumping and everything else that comes with intense fear.
Excellent! Highly recommended!
Not many suprises in the plot, but had some pretty good thriller scenes that made the audience quite jumpy. Would recommend seeing it at the theater, won’t have nearly the same affect at home. You definitely won’t be looking at a bathtub the same way again….
Though it could use some new tricks, a decent thriller.
This is not the most original movie in the world. It could use a stronger plot, and would be a great movie with a little more of a psychological edge. It kept you on the edge of your seat, but by using the same make-you-jump trick over and over. The sudden, crashing note on the violins also gets old, as it is used throughout the movie to jolt you more. Michele Pfeiffer does very good in this role, with her skeletal bone structure, and Harrison Ford plays the wealthy professor character well. Overall worth seeing, but not really innovative in any way. See it with a date and watch them jump into your lap.
Reviewed to the tune of "Spinning Wheel…"
What goes up, must come down
"What Lies Beneath" ain’t nothin’ profound
Take yourself some Hitchcock and some Peter Straub
Sprinkle on some Edgar Allen Poe to do the job
Ford and Pfeiffer staying home alone
Empty nestin’ now their daughter’s all grown
Feelin’ frisky while the neighbors fight
Having Kama Sutra slap-and-tickle every night
Lady beware, there’s something there
Now you’ve started hearing voices
Pictures fall, and that’s not all
The bathtub’s full and that’s not bull
Have you dreamed your house is haunted?
Or is it real?
Handsome hubby’s not the perfect mate
Better find the truth out before it’s too late
The audience has got it figured out five minutes in
Great stars, but only so-so movie
Lordy, what a sin!
Great suspense! Fatal attraction II
Slow moving and predictable
This movie was so slow for the first hour and then when it finally picked up, it was already obvious what the rest of the story was about. I have to say, though, Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer are still great !! There were some scary parts that had people jumping out of their seats….kind of like Jaws where you know it’s coming, but you just don’t know when.
the trailer gave it all away. It has some good hitchcock type photography. The ending gets totally carried away ruining the entire flick.
A really good suspense movie, it keeps you on the edge of your chair.
Predictable and blatent rip-off (homage?) of about 5 Hitchcock films.
Ghost story meets Fatal Attraction
Ok it got me! I actually jumped in my seat. And, unusual for me, I couldn’t figure it out until the end. Harrison Ford surprised me so much! A hair raising experience!!!!