What Lies Beneath (2000)

What Lies Beneath

rated PG-13
125 minutes
Dreamworks SKG
starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford
written by Clark Gregg
directed by Robert Zemeckis

A Review by Frankie Paiva

What Lies Beneath tries to be two different movies. At times it is a taut adult thriller with plenty of jolts, sure to make many people jump in their seats. Other moments are standard horror flick material filled with fake shocks and predictable conclusions. When the movie starts getting easy to foresee, it is still thrilling. This is the type of movie where one event impacts the next one. Seemingly trivial lines and occurrences influence most of the characters' actions. Only the attentive viewer will get rewarded. The prizes here are many, and worth waiting for.

Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) lives in a beautiful New England home with her husband Norman (Harrison Ford). Their only daughter just went away to college, so they are enjoying some peace, quiet, and more time with each other. One day when Claire is working in her garden, she hears her new next door neighbor in hysterics. Becoming increasingly paranoid, Claire begins spying on the couple and their home. The husband is more than a little frightening, and Claire thinks she saw him put his wifeâ^À^Ùs body in the back of a car trunk. Shortly after, Claire receives her first visit from the spirit. Someone or something not of this world is trying to contact her. Getting increasingly distant from her husband, she begins searching for an answer to the ghost and what he or she wants. Piece by piece, the clues come together to form a horrifying conclusion.

To those who have not seen this movie, it sounds very similar to M. Night Shyamalanâ^À^Ùs The Sixth Sense. It is not. What Lies Beneath has more similarities with Stir of Echoes, the Kevin Bacon thriller released last September. The plotline is strikingly similar, and both movies clean up and answer all questions quite nicely. In addition, there is the obvious Rear Window element that works for the film. The unneeded fake frights, like a scratching noise that reveals itself to be only a dog, and people that bump into each other in badly lit rooms, come straight from Halloween: H20. These hurt the film somewhat.

There is a suspenseful music overkill. The score tries to be haunting, but works only when accentuating the thrills onscreen. Whenever the audience should shriek, a loud twang almost instructs them to do so. I would have screamed without the music. There hasnâ^À^Ùt been any movie so far this year thatâ^À^Ùs this exciting or scary. 1998â^À^Ùs A Perfect Murder with Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow comes to mind as the last grown-up thriller this good. While the film runs a bit long, and frequently confuses being slow with being mysterious, itâ^À^Ùs still a good time. Michelle Pfeiffer reminds us why she is a star. Her performance is excellent. Harrison Ford is particularly good as well, especially since he hasnâ^À^Ùt gotten any good roles lately.

Director Robert Zemeckis has been very secretive about this movie. No one can interview him, and he refuses to give away anything about the plot. He has a great reason for this. The trailer for this film shows way too much of the mystery that unfolds, and really spoils the fun. Anyone who hasnâ^À^Ùt seen the trailer should turn off any TV ads or close your eyes and ears during the preview at the movies. The experience will be more enjoyable. Zemeckis also comes up with some very inventive camera angles. Instead of just focusing on a characterâ^À^Ùs face, he looks at their shoulders, stomach, and toes. This isnâ^À^Ùt just a thriller either. Some great lines get sandwiched in between the screams.

A thriller that really thrills with its comedy and story, but never its creativity. Excellent performances make What Lies Beneath above average. This is an ideal adult escape during this action film filled summer.

B+

Frankie Paiva
SwpStke@aol.com
http://homestead.com/cinemaparadise/mainpage.html