I’m not sure What Lies Beneath, but whatever it is; it wasn’t buried deep enough. In What Lies Beneath Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfieffer play a couple who’s home is haunted…or is it? Pfieffer’s character, Claire Spencer, keeps hearing things, voices whispering words she can’t quite make out, and things keep falling on their own, but Claire has always been high strung and is under even more stress then usual of late so perhaps it’s all her imagination? But if there is a ghost then whose ghost is it, why is it here and what…or who, does it want?
What Lies Beneath was nicely done visually, but otherwise was very, very disappointing. I don’t remember the exact joke, but years ago in one of his comedy routines Richard Pryor joked about the difference between the way white characters in a horror movie would react as opposed to black characters. Describing some of the really dumb things that characters often do in horror films he labeled this behavior, “Stupid White People Syndrome.” What Lies Beneath is just one example of “Stupid White People Syndrome.” after another. Granted there is no film genre that doesn’t contain movies in which people do unrealistically stupid things, but why do people act so especially dumb in the majority of horror movies? Outside of the movies would anyone who had good reason to believe their next door neighbor had murdered his wife continue to live next to him alone, while her husband was away on business, without calling the police and voicing her suspicions? Of course not, but the heroine does in this movie and that’s not even the silliest thing by far in a long list of silly things to happen in What Lies Beneath. Worse, there wasn’t a single scare in the entire film that was telegraphed ahead of time. I will admit that I didn’t figure out what was going on until right at the end, but in part this is because the story set up one premise at the start of the movie only to replace it with a new, and different premise, toward the end. Further despondent sayth not in order to avoid spoilers, but all else I will say is that What Lies Beneath doesn’t play fair. Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfieffer both give excellent performances, but no acting talent on earth could have saved this loser.
What Lies Beneath is a definite washout so I suggest you give it a pass.
Grade: E
