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What Lies Beneath

What Lies Beneath

List Price: $12.99
Your Price: $9.09
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Bad Film
Review: I've seen thousands of movies but WLB is seriously very, very bad. I am shocked that Ford/Pfeiffer/Zemeckis actually churned out a film so awful. Considering how many cool movies Zemeckis has created in the past such as the BTTF trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Cast Away, plus his involvement with the 'Dark Castle' movies (House on Haunted Hill, Thir13en Ghosts, Ghost Ship-all graphic and way scary) and Tales From The Crypt for WLB to be such a boring affair is bizarre.

Thank goodness I bought this DVD cheap, I would have felt so criminally cheated if I had paid full price for it. Never before has 2 hours seemed so unfathomly long. Every tedious minute is dragged out and every second is felt.

This wouldn't be so bad if the plot and story were bearable but the whole thing is so full of holes and embarrassing contrivances that it becomes too hard to swallow. For such a long, drawn-out and tedious affair to have a boring, tension-free ending is unreal. Considering the talent behind this film it's strange for it to be so bad. I wouldn't recommend it under any circumstances.

The DVD is in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby/DTS 5.1 sound.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A haunting by the unpeaceful dead
Review: Expecting the incomparable Harrison Ford to play another hero or good guy, one of this film's many stunners is that he isn't. But that revelation comes after we get clued in that the ghost haunting Ford's and wife Michelle Pfeiffer's house isn't the one of the neighbor thought to have been done in by her husband. And the third is Pfeiffer's understated but strong performance as the wife who slowly regains her memory lost a year earlier in a car crash, and how her recall puts her face-to-face with the watery death her husband has planned for her, much like the one he gave the ghost that haunts their house. Director Robert Zemeckis gives us Ford and Pfeiffer as married couple Norman and Claire Spencer, and what lies beneath is the fearful reality of what exists on the surface is, in this case, the polarity of reality. A la Hitchcock, the film takes us from the jitters of wife Claire's gradual awakening to reality, then to learning the true identity of the ghost in her midst (yes, there is a real ghost!) and, finally, how finding out puts everything in her life on the line. It's the last third of the film that is the most gripping, however, as Claire manages to tap into a reservoir of fight and sheer will (along with a little help from the ghost that turns out to be her salvation) and take on her psychotic husband in a fight to the fatal finale. Seeing Ford as a bad guy is something of an unsettling experience, but he ably adds another dimension to his tremendous acting ability. Pfeiffer is, as she usually is, magnificent, and we can't help but feel her bond to the spirit of her husband's murdered lover in the film's final frame. And as Claire's best friend, Diana Scarwid provides some refreshing light comedy in trying to help her friend make contact with the other side. All in all, "What Lies Beneath" is an entertaining ghost story and, though certainly not a message film, it serves to remind us that the real ghosts of our private hauntings are ususally the ones of our own making.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Everybody Cheats
Review: Why are these women always so SHOCKED that their husbands are cheating on them in these movies? I mean these are men we are talking about. I'm a man and I always sleep with other women. I mean it's part of being a man. These haus fraus should wake up and smell the PINE-SOL.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I found it entertaining
Review: Okay not so original, okay some mess ups in it. Overall, very good and kept my interest. I thought Harrison Ford did a great job in an unfamiliar role for him. Michelle Pfieffer was good. I think it's worth watching. If nothing else for a few laughs.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What Lies Beneath? A really bad movie.
Review: The true lie beneath this movie is that it's a suspenseful and/or thrilling movie. I hope that Ford and Pfeiffer are regretting the day they agreed to act in this one. The suspense consists of Pfeiffer lurking around with a half-demented look on her face. Thrilling consists of hackneyed big knife scenes, scenes with the bad guy crawling into the back window of the truck, and a car sinking into the lake with people in it. All of these have been done before and done much better. You sit and wait for the "something" to happen, and wait and wait and wait and wait . . . . . . By the end of the movie you're just waiting for it to end and waiting and waiting and waiting and well you get the picture. Or rather, don't get the picture. It's boring, badly acted, and the plot seems to not know its direction. At first, you think something's wrong at the neighbors. Pfeiffer spends way too much time lurking. Then, you think maybe it's her problem and has something to do with the auto accident, or is it empty nest syndrome? Or is the nest really empty? They mention a daughter that as far as I could tell had nothing to do with the plot. And then we find, no, hubby's the bad guy and he had an affair. Now he wants to cover up. And now we can start the real movie after we've wasted an hour or so on this other crud. Of course the real movie was nothing to spend your time watching. My husband was truly annoyed by the movie. I was just bored.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: So dumb it's funny
Review: This is a film to truly ask the question of what happened to Robert Zemeckis. He used to be so good, yet, this film is unforgiveable. The acting is terrible, the story line is mediocre at best, and the shooting style doesn't hide who it steals from. There's a differene between developing and creating new techniques that others somewhat developed as apposed to downright stealing them. To give any credit to this movie, I would say watch it if you want a great laugh. It's a perfect example of what a film shouldn't do and is incredibly funny because of its awfulness. The only problem is that it wasn't made with a conscious attempt to make it horrible, which just makes it sad. In all reality though, you may just pray to get the two hours of your life back.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: FRIGHTENING, BUT DUMB
Review: The movie really has nothing much to save itself from the barrage of denunciations coming its way, except for the fact that it is very well made. It is very well directed, rather. Throughout the runtime, Michelle Pfeiffer keeps seeing these sudden images of a 'dead' girl, in all sorts of places, especially those, which store water!! You know, the pond, the bath - tub, etc. What's more interesting, is the reason behind the appearances of the 'defaced' face only in certain 'hydrated' places. Well, towards the end of the movie, one comes to know that Pfeiffer's hubby - dear had murdered a young woman, sometime in the 'forgotten' past, and got rid of the cadaver by driving it off into some lake of some sort. In the aftermath, the unappeased soul made those strange appearances in those 'hydrated' places, to seek revenge. What a smart piece of direction! I think not; no way. Now, one question pops up in mind that, if the 'dissatisfied' soul is unhappy over its death - process, why bother Pfeiffer? Wouldn't it make life less complicated, if she scared Harrison Ford, if it is he, who she wants to settle a score with? I am confused. The story is baseless. In fact, there is no storyline at all. There are a lot of unexplained things, forced on the viewer, which are dumb, in effect, treating the viewer as someone, who can take any sort of ..., and be contented with the façade created by the horrifyingly thrilling special effects, to cover for the feeble story - line. On a different note, Michelle Pfeiffer puts up a brilliant performance. She is really good. Harrison Ford doesn't have much of a scope for acting; so he can be rendered as redundant. The thrill - creating scenes are very well done, and the movie is quite scary in a lot of places.
At the end of the day, it is some 'cool' 'hair - raising' direction, that saves this otherwise sorry effort.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: What Lies Beneath is
Review: your disappointment. The story is quite predictable and lame. DTS sound is nice. That's why 2 stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: WOW!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I apsolutlly LOVED this movie! an exellent thriller with loads of suspence! i need to have this this movie for myself, but i don't want to give it away... so i'm giving it to myself for x-mas... i'll just say it's from santa!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What Lies Beneath?
Review: Robert Zemeckis' superbly-crafted thriller WHAT LIES BENEATH gets another release on DVD, this time with more extra features. Hitchcockian in story and style, Zemeckis' tale about supernatural happenings at a lakeside house is a suspensful and compelling story starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer. The plot is set a year after Dr Norman Spencer (Ford) had an affair with another woman, but Claire (Pfeiffer) is oblivious to his betrayal until Claire starts hearing voices... Events start off well, with some well-played scenes reminiscant of REAR WINDOW, but the film leans more on it's star power than originality. Dogs bark when something bad is about to happen, every door creaks eerily, lightning, thunder et all. But despite the over-done "homages" to PSYCHO among others, it remains a very effective thriller and a bold lesson in shock tactics. The last half hour is a tour-de-force of frenetic camera trickery, twists, clever imagery, fantastic "boo!" scares and Alan Silversti's nail-biting score. Building the tension slowly from a "who-dunnit" to an all-out, no-holds barred thriller near the finale, if you like shocking films like this, then this one is a must.
The DVD extras are great stuff for fans of the film, starting off with a flashy 30-second clip show of the film that launches the menu. An insightful Commentary by director Zemeckis is the highlight, and the "Behind-the-Scenes" Featurette is informative and interesting, and you also get production notes and trailers. Impressive. Most impressive.


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