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."
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.
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.
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.
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."
Working with his regular team, including cinematographer Don Burgess and editor Arthur Schmidt, Zemeckis has gotten the placement of those squeal-inducing surprises (the Audrey Hepburn-starring "Wait Until Dark" is more of a model than Hitchcock) down to such a precise science that the film feels genetically engineered.
As a director, he’s hit the mark with the critically acclaimed Contact and Oscar-winning Forrest Gump, yet his producer credits include such lowly horror fare as House on Haunted Hill and the Vancouver-shot stinker Bordello of Blood .
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I have a feeling that What Lies Beneath will be compared to the remake of Cape Fear several years ago.
(July 21, 2000) -- With What Lies Beneath, Robert Zemeckis, the Oscar-winning director of Forrest Gump, steps boldly but unsteadily into Alfred Hitchcock territory.
Forrest Gump, the definitive 1990s liberal historical fable that hated both liberals and history, showcased a director uncertain about whether to have a mind about the material.
Robert Zemeckis has taken two top-rank actors and gone from "Forrest Gump" to a B-movie haunted house thriller.
Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump"/"Contact"/"Back to the Future") directs without fleshing out his characters, they seem more like robots than humans.
An Oscar winner for "Forrest Gump," Zemeckis has apparently long had a yen to do a tale of suspense, and his impressive filmmaking and storytelling gifts make this one efficient, at least from moment to moment.
As a director, he’s hit the mark with the critically acclaimed Contact and Oscar-winning Forrest Gump, yet his producer credits include such lowly horror fare as House on Haunted Hill and the Vancouver-shot stinker Bordello of Blood .
The youth comedy/adult fantasy Back to the Future and the animation/live-action experiment Who Framed Roger Rabbit? were daring and accomplished genre mashups, whereas the dopey/brilliant Contact suggested a director making his mind up about the material.
Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump"/"Contact"/"Back to the Future") directs without fleshing out his characters, they seem more like robots than humans.
Although Harrison Ford gets top billing, "Beneath" is unarguably Pfeiffer's showcase: She's in almost every scene and she turns in captivating work under the direction of Robert Zemeckis ("Contact," "Back to the Future"), a filmmaker who knows how to show his audience a very good time.
Director Robert Zemeckis ( Cast Away ; Forrest Gump; the Back to the Future trilogy) is probably too talented to make a really unwatchable movie; and the considerable star power of Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer doesn’t hurt, either.What Lies Beneath does have some effectively creepy moments, and even one or two real scares.
Zemeckis has never been afraid of special effects: In pictures as wildly different as, say, the deliciously nasty "Death Becomes Her" and the far more heavy-handed "Forrest Gump," he shows a knack for weaving them seamlessly into a narrative, and he revels in them here.
His "Death Becomes Her" and "Back to the Future II" were so laden with effects that the movies themselves seemed to have an otherworldly gloss to them.