Rating: Summary: At Last A Decent Film Review: What Lies Beneath has everything that i want from a film. It has a fairly good plot, it has scary bits, suspence, a good cast, and a few twists to keep you interests. Harrison and Michelle are excellent in the roles of the typical married couple. The story is based around a ghost who starts to plague the family with Michelle thinking that it has a message for her, which it does but not one that you would think of. This film is worth seeing even if you just hire it out but i would reccomend that you buy it as you will want to watch it over and over again
Rating: Summary: TOO LONG ... AND TOO MANY ENDINGS! Review: Even if one is a clever craftsman of cinema, he have to work on good ideas to make a good movie. This time the ideas are not enough, and it's impossible to create a very good product making use above all of unexpected apparitions and violent underlines of the soundtrack.The quotations of Hitchcock are banal, and it's always unpleasant when people speaks too much about the citations instead the ideas of a movie. The movie is too long and falls back on the hackneyed stratagem of a finale that never ends, because the villain doesn't want to die! The most pleasing thing is the acting of Michelle Pfeiffer, always abler when her character is vulnerable and disturbed, and time by time always more beautiful.
Rating: Summary: Effective jolts in an old-school style. Review: Y'know, for those wanting an obvious type horror movie should look elsewhere. An effective movie is all about what you don't see rather than having signposted plotlines. WLB keeps you on tenterhooks throughout, and it twists and turns like a twisty-turny thing. As for those who may think there are hitchcockian cliches, cliches are cliches because they are so regularly truisms! This is the sort of clever filmaking with no horrible bits, Zemikis winding up the tension mercilessly then releasing it with those Hitch style false starts. You can safely let your kids watch this as it's not one of those gory horrors, more a psychological type. Another sign of a good movie such as this is there are plotlines and a deneument that one never expects. For those who can't be bothered with characterisation and plotlines, stick to horror movies from Medusa distributors such as 'Maniac Cop', or the 'Scream' sequels. Oh, as with all movies, ensure you get the widescreen letterbox edition, not many folk know that up to 60% of a movie disappears with standard Pan & Scan, or "Fullscreen" (which is a misnomer) versions; and this is particularly apparent with 70mm print movies; eg Ghostbusters, 2001, Topgun.
Rating: Summary: A lot of fun Review: I really enjoyed this film. I was expecting a typical "spook" picture. To my surprise, I not only watched a great tribute to Hitchcock but I saw Mr. Ford "try" and stretch his "abilities" as an actor. How many Hitchcock film's can you pick out of this one movie? Robert Zemeckis does what he does best and entertains us with humor, mystery and a fun rollercoaster ghost story. I hope you enjoy it as much as i did?
Rating: Summary: The Worst Film of the Year! Review: Okay, imagine an episode of Tales From The Crypt (whose television program was actually co-created by this film's director Robert Zemeckis) with a good cast, a good budget, a good director, and one of the more interesting premises of a film this year. Now imagine the worst script possible being attached to it, and there you have "What Lies Beneath", easily the worst film of 2000 because of its sheer, transparent joy in dumbing itself down from what could have been a shocking, disturbing, multi-leveled thriller to a crowd-pleasing mish-mash of Hitchcockian cliches, over-the-top performances, and an ending that goes on about twenty minutes too long. What is wrong with Robert Zemeckis? He who was the mastermind behind such truly great films like "Back to the Future" and "Forrest Gump" and the executive producer of one of the most underrated films of the 90's, Peter Jackson's "The Frighteners", brings us this film which seems to have consciously made an effort to make itself stupid. Of course, Zemeckis has had his share of misfires such as "Death Becomes Her" and the abysmal sequels to "Back to the Future", but after his superb direction in "Forrest Gump" and his support of "The Frighteners", I was hoping that those days were over. But I was wrong. Now onto the movie itself. Its plot is very strong: A happily-married couple (Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfieffer) who finally have some time to rekindle the flames of their romance after sending their daughter off to college, find that their beautiful new colonial house... is haunted. And it just so happens to be haunted by the ghost of a young college girl who Ford's character, a brilliant college science professor, had an affair with. Makes for a pretty strong ghost story, right? Wrong. Merely because the film tries too hard to make the events of the physical world responsible for the terror that the spiritual world brings into it. Whatever happened to ghost stories that happened seemingly for no reason? Doesn't that make things scarier and more immediate when terrible things happen to good people without justification? Apparently, Zemeckis and Co. didn't think so. So we have one climax followed by another and another and another and another until we finally get to the real one that not only is embarassingly absurd, but gives no real satisfaction. You're left feeling empty and insulted because where the film could have disturbed and shocked in an intelligent manner, it went for the cheap Hollywood ending that wraps everything up in a neat little package so you can walk out of the theater feeling good that the evil-doer is punished and the innocent walk free. Didn't Hollywood learn anything from great shockers like "The Exorcist" or "Se7en" or "Psycho"? That you can make a disturbing and smart thriller without everything having to happen for a reason? I guess not, which is maybe one of the reasons that 2000 was one of the worst years of filmmaking ever.
Rating: Summary: A very jumpy film, One of the scariest movies of the year!! Review: What Lies Beneath is a very scary movie and is very jumpy. Pfieffer(Claire Spencer) plays the house wife of Ford(Dr Norman Spencer),everything is going well until Claire starts to hear noises in the house of theirs.All of a sudden the noises become louder and clues are given to the indentity of a missing girl who has been missing for a couple of years.The ghost of that girl has come to haunt Claire and Norman and to even kill them.Weird things happen in the house pictures keep falling and doors keep opening. But the one thing that happens the most is the bath tub keeps filling up with hot water. Norman thinks its all a joke until he sees it for himself and does he know who that girl is? Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer play a good couple, and you jump so much that you feel like you have the hiccups. A must see movie!!
Rating: Summary: What Lies Beneath Review: This is definitely a must see if you like suspense films. This movie had us on pins and needles through out most of the film. Also very surprised at the role Harrison Ford plays. I've watched him in a lot of different movies and have never seen him play this type of role. Excellent film.
Rating: Summary: What Lies "Between" Review: Very scary movie that brings back the style of the late Alfred Hitchcock in a way, though the movie has nothing to do with any of his previous work. The idea behind the story is that a ghost of the woman that Harrison Ford had an affair with comes to make a visit when his daughter leaves for school. A lot of the reviews said that it had several scenes that made you jump out of your seat. There were: doors voluntarily opening, the same picture breaking and visions. The plot is great, but it is very difficult to imagine Harrison Ford being a villian.
Rating: Summary: This movie helped inspire me to get a home theatre! Review: An aside... First, I don't know what it is, but my wife and I seem to have the worst luck when we go to the movies any more. We invariably wind up sitting next to or near the people who think they've got the god-given right to behave as if they're the only people in the theater. The people who sat behind us at this movie nearly inspired me to homicide with a popcorn bucket. We ask them nicely to quiet down and they get belligerent. I went to get an usher and they acted even worse, so we wind up giving up our comfortable arena seats to go sit right under the screen. After that incident, I had no problem convincing my wife we could use a good home theater setup with good sound and a nice DVD player. A lot easier to watch movies at home, too! Sorry for ranting. What I saw of this movie gave me chills. Atmosphere is so important for a good ghost story. Subtle little things that send shivers of ice down your spinal column are, in my opinion much scarier and effective than going for a gross out. This movie has a ton of foreboding atmosphere and some genuinely scary moments. I highly recommend it. When I saw trailers, I immediately thought "Sixth Sense" ripoff, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Rating: Summary: Entertaining! Review: Robert Zemeckis gives us this non stop thrill ride starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer. The story is about a couple (Ford and Pfeiffer) who's only child recently moves off to college leaving the two by themselves in a new home. The story quickly leaves that norm when the house turns out to be haunted by some sort of spiritual being. The film vaguely resembles a good Hitchcock movie with its' great work of shadows and an evil yet terrifying scene with a bath tub. The movie has a few surprises and scares that you don't expect which gives you more than enough reason to check this one out.
|