What Lies Beneath (2000)

Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfieffer are a couple in a beautiful house haunted by a ghost. Bob Zemeckis is a great director but this is one of his lesser efforts. There is nothing really wrong with the film except looking at the marquee names one would have expected more. It has ghosts, jump scares and spooky music- even great locations but it is better suited as a film made by a first time director not the guy who made Back to the future or Contact. Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfieffer add allure to the star cast but you can clearly see by their motions they are pondering on when the cheque will clear.

Who would have thought or suspected the killer? Certainly not me. I'm not going to spoil it for you because this movie is definitely worth a viewing. It was spooky, but not gruesome or horrific as a horror would normally be. It was pretty low key and untypical for a horror movie. I would have classified this more like a thriller though instead of a horror. However, it does have lots of suspenseful moments, which could be their reason for classifying this in the horror genre. It's still very good, believable for sure and it has unexpected twists and turns, which caused this movie to stand out as unique. Who doesn't like something different and non-cliché' or typical? I only wish the daughter that went off to college at the beginning had come back into the picture as a means of support and some family closure. But well worth my viewing time. Kudos to all the people who made this film! Very enjoyable indeed! And pieces of this were filmed in Vermont as well, where I currently live...very cool!

What lies beneath really does make the best out of the material it's given. Michelle Pfeiffer is just awesome in her starring role! I mean she just fits the role so well and really rocks it! And Harrison Ford is great here, he is determined, dramatic, and even scary at times. The suspense and tense energy that runs rampant thought what lies beneath is incredible, it's so creepy and unwatchable at times. Just the music itself will creep underneath your skin. Robert Zemeckis has done it again, he successfully made an entertaining, well acted and well written creepy thriller. Also Pfeiffer and Ford do have good on screen chemistry together, they just work and click during a scene, especially an intimate one. The visuals are great here, and the film is directed and shot very well, great to look at. The script is well written with intelligent dialogue between the main characters. The ending is very satisfying, I liked it, it is creepy, smart, and bone chilling. It's not exactly a big twist, but just a little one. You may see it coming, then again you may not, depends on the viewer. I give what lies beneath an 8/10.

Spoiler Alert!!! OK I think this nice little ghost film is actually better than the shining, sadly. The reason I think this is because this film has likable characters for the most part as the shining really didn't have enough build up. This film has some truly creepy moments like the ghost in the bathtub reflection, the face in the water, and the foot prints that are in the driveway as the shining really only has the twins, and the girl in the bathtub scene. This makes me wonder what if Jack Nicholson starred in this film with Michelle Phiffer rather than in the wolf with Michelle Phiffer? We'd have a film that's ten times better than the shining wouldn't we? I like how the whole film is pretty twisted when it comes to an end. There's one thing I never understood was how did the ghost come back to drown Harrison Ford at the end if it was obvious she has been dead for a long time down there? Overall I give it an 8 out of 10.