I try and visit my father once a week, so on Wednesday (at the time of typing) after a long, long day at work I went to his. Turned out he had brought some random films from a charity shop and asked if I wanted to watch any of them. Seeing one of them was a horror, I jumped at the chance, in my head, an ideal entry for next weeks film reviews. What Lies Beneath is a supernatural horror that for much of the runtime I was convinced I had once already seen. In fact, just writing that last sentence had me racing to my VHS collection to search through for it, that convinced that I had once long ago brought this. Directed by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future trilogy), this took a heck of a long time to get going, and had an increasingly obvious direction the story was going in. With my brain turned to mush after a long work day, I was happy for my eyes to glaze over and zone out to this mild ghost story featuring two big name actors.
Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer - Batman Returns, Scarface) has recently moved to the lakeside former home of the parents of her research scientist husband - Norman (Harrison Ford - Star Wars and Indiana Jones series of films). Obviously, being happily married, he has moved there with her, as well as their seldom seen dog Cooper. Norman has been busier than usual on a project at the University where he works, and so Claire has been left on her own and is feeling a little lost, even more so as her daughter has recently gone off to college. Odd occurrences start happening around the home, doors open on their own, a photo frame falls on the floor and shatters, and she sees a vision of what appears to be a young woman while investigating the bathtub which had inexplicably filled itself up. Claire increasingly becomes convinced the home is haunted, and she first suspects that it is the wife of her next door neighbour who she has become convinced was murdered by the husband. Norman meanwhile is getting ever more annoyed at Claire's antics, seeing her as being hysterical and getting in the way of his important work. Is Claire slowly going insane or is there something more supernatural at play?
My heart sank a little when I saw this was over two hours long, I had hoped for a shorter film to watch. Initial impressions were not good, nothing was happening. Time and time again it felt like something was on the cusp of occurring, but it never did. Slowly, much like the slow pace of the film, things begin to get more and more interesting. In the supernatural sense not so much. This may feature a ghost at the core of the story, but that part is used very sparsely. I didn't really mind, the times the ghost makes an appearance were well chosen. The lack of much paranormal activity may have been an issue if not for the red herrings going on. The first act has Claire barking up completely the wrong tree, but it was entertaining, and led to some amusing moments. I enjoyed the amount of characters that Claire interacts with, and while she might not be imagining the hauntings, she is hardly the epitome of balanced calmness, known to many around her as someone who gets a bit emotional about things.
Pfeiffer was a good lead, I enjoyed her character throughout the movie, even if there was some bad writing. The poor dog Cooper! He appears in literally about four scenes and really added nothing to the story. He may as not have been there as it became a bit distracting wondering where the family dog was for the majority of the film. Ford wasn't so much of a good character. Not really his fault, but Norman seems to have wild mood swings that make him a bit off putting, and Claire's meekness around him even when hidden secrets come out is a bit pathetic.
The story was predictable, I had worked out what was really going on a good thirty minutes before characters in the film work it out. It does lead to a thrilling finale though, I thought it had some good parts to it, especially the unique use of the bathtub as a weapon, a unique scene.
What Lies Beneath isn't something I would class as a classic. It is nostalgic due to the time it was made, the internet in the film is incredibly basic looking and no one has mobile phones (which would have solved a whole load of plot points if this had been made today). It was fun seeing two iconic actors, and in a horror film no less. The story really wasn't anything to write home about, but it was adequately satisfying to see play out. Well worth a watch if only for nostalgia, and can be a real slow burn at times, but overall, yeah, not bad. As a final word, I read that the director was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's way of making films, I can really see that thinking back.
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