What Lies Beneath (2000)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Norman and Claire Spencer are a seemingly happily married couple who uncover a terrible secret… a secret so disturbing it threatens to destroy them.
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Director Robert Zemeckis has called What Lies Beneath his "Hitchcock" picture, and if we accept that increasingly preposterous notion, the picture most called to mind by the film's first hour is not Rear Window, despite superficial plot similarities, but The Birds.
As the story unwinds, there are various tributes to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, but Zemeckis wrings the suspense so skillfully from Clark Gregg’s restrained script that his obvious nods to the greats are easily forgiven.
Just look at the major Hollywood releases this summer: First "Mission: Impossible 2" borrows a plot from "Notorious," then "X-Men" takes a Statue of Liberty climax from "Saboteur," and finally we have Robert Zemeckisâ "What Lies Beneath," which cribs from so many Hitchcock thrillers itâs impossible to mention them all, but the chief victims are "Rear Window," "Rebecca," and "Suspicion."
Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump") takes Clark Gregg's highly derivative haunted house script and pours on the Hitchcockian visual flourishes, unapologetically pilfering from the Master's "Rear Window" and "Psycho," among others.
Alfred Hitchcock was very good at directing this kind of movie, where a nosy neighbor gets involved in someone else's business ("Rear Window").
It features the voyeuristic neighbor from Rear Window, the unsettling bathroom from Psycho, even an icy blonde in the form of Michelle Pfeiffer.
Just look at the major Hollywood releases this summer: First "Mission: Impossible 2" borrows a plot from "Notorious," then "X-Men" takes a Statue of Liberty climax from "Saboteur," and finally we have Robert Zemeckisâ "What Lies Beneath," which cribs from so many Hitchcock thrillers itâs impossible to mention them all, but the chief victims are "Rear Window," "Rebecca," and "Suspicion."
I also saw a shot of a shower curtain that was right out of Psycho.
Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump") takes Clark Gregg's highly derivative haunted house script and pours on the Hitchcockian visual flourishes, unapologetically pilfering from the Master's "Rear Window" and "Psycho," among others.
It features the voyeuristic neighbor from Rear Window, the unsettling bathroom from Psycho, even an icy blonde in the form of Michelle Pfeiffer.
From "Rear Window" we have Ms. Pfeiffer's nosy wife spying on the neighbor next door (who, imagine this, she suspects of murdering his wife!) with binoculars; from "Psycho" there are many frightening shower scenes - including one in which Ms. Pfeiffer brings down the shower curtain; there are also "Vertigo" and "Dial M for Murder" references which, for spoiler's sake, should not be revealed.
Even the name of Ford’s character, Norman, is taken from Hitch’s most famous film, Psycho.
Just look at the major Hollywood releases this summer: First "Mission: Impossible 2" borrows a plot from "Notorious," then "X-Men" takes a Statue of Liberty climax from "Saboteur," and finally we have Robert Zemeckisâ "What Lies Beneath," which cribs from so many Hitchcock thrillers itâs impossible to mention them all, but the chief victims are "Rear Window," "Rebecca," and "Suspicion."
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It kept reminding me of the original The Uninvited (1944), a much better ghost story that I heartily recommend in place of this film.
As the story unwinds, there are various tributes to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, but Zemeckis wrings the suspense so skillfully from Clark Gregg’s restrained script that his obvious nods to the greats are easily forgiven.
From "Rear Window" we have Ms. Pfeiffer's nosy wife spying on the neighbor next door (who, imagine this, she suspects of murdering his wife!) with binoculars; from "Psycho" there are many frightening shower scenes - including one in which Ms. Pfeiffer brings down the shower curtain; there are also "Vertigo" and "Dial M for Murder" references which, for spoiler's sake, should not be revealed.
Diana Scarwid (1981's "Mommie Dearest") is vibrantly unconventional, but sorely underused, as Claire's best friend, Jody.
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Every once in a while my colleagues form a collective opinion about a film that inspires me to shout from the rooftops, "Don't listen to them!" What Lies Beneath, for which director Robert Zemeckis finally put his mouth where his money is (after producing HBO's "Tales from the Crypt" series and Peter Jackson's The Frighteners ), is being condemned, near as I can tell, for its genre aspirations.
Director Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump") borrowed from Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" and "Suspicion," added a dash of "Gaslight," a slice of "Fatal Attraction," then finished it off with scenes that recall "Friday the 13th" or "Halloween."