BC-WKD--Film Review-What Lies Beneath,0729
Now for the real scary movie.
Last summer, you couldn't toss a package of Junior Mints in a movie lobby
without beaning someone rushing in to see "The Sixth Sense," "The Blair Witch
Project," "The Haunting" or some other horror flick.
Other than the parody "Scary Movie," the Michelle Pfeiffer-Harrison Ford
ghost tale "What Lies Beneath" pretty much has the market cornered on things
that go bump in the theater this summer.
Good thing it's a decent movie. Though there are some awkward plot
contrivances and a few too many cheap scares, "What Lies Beneath" has enough
chills and twists to satisfy viewers in need of a fright fix.
Though Ford gets top billing, "What Lies Beneath" is Pfeiffer's film all the
way. She's terrific in a role that lets her roam from mousy spouse to
voyeuristic neighbor, amateur sleuth to ghost conjurer, and finally, possessed
seductress to terrified victim.
Pfeiffer plays Claire Spencer, a doting wife and mother with way too much
time on her hands now that her daughter has gone off to college. Husband Norman
(Ford) is loving but neglectful, a brilliant university professor preoccupied
with his research.
Rattling around the Spencer's gorgeous lakeside house in New England, Claire
begins seeing and hearing things. She senses something sinister, not of this
world, and suspects it's connected to the strange doings between the bickering
new couple next door.
Claire embarks on a "Rear Window" stakeout, not realizing until later that
the mystery lies not beneath the roof of her standoffish neighbors, but her own.
For Norman's dalliance with a missing student has come home to roost.
Visions appear: a face in the lake, a young woman IS reflection in a bathtub
that keeps filling to the brim by itself. In a nod to Alfred Hitchcock, whose
flair for suspense director Robert Zemeckis tries to emulate, a good share of
"What Lies Beneath" takes place in and around the tub and shower, a la "Psycho."
"Are we hoping the ghost has to go to the potty?" asks Claire's buddy Jody
(Diana Scarwid) as the two conduct a seance in the bathroom with a Ouija board.
Caught up in his work, Norman thinks Claire has gone flaky and sends her
shrink (Joe Morton, in an amusing role).
Claire tells the doctor that her husband is "hoping you'll pack me with
Prozac or lithium so he can live out his life in peace."
In keeping with the notion that what you don't see often is scarier than what
you do, the movie takes a lower key "Sixth Sense" approach to the visuals, as
opposed to "The Haunting's" silly, razzle-dazzle special effects.
"What Lies Beneath" does sashay too often into empty scarifying; the ominous
cliched horror score builds tension that abruptly fades away without any payoff.
Some smaller plot points seem forced, notablya coincidence over the missing
woman's initials and another involving a news article about the missing woman
that comes to Claire's attention in unbelievable fashion, even considering the
beyond-the-grave intervention involved.
The movie's overlong ending might have gained impact with some nipping and
tucking. But its layer of rising climaxes has punch and a couple of mild
surprises, mainly about just what brought the ghost back to haunt the Spencers.
Ford's performance runs deeper and darker than the actor has gone in a long
while. Scarwid provides fine support as Claire's saucy pal, and James Remar
broods nicely as the Spencers' neighbor, who contributes one truly hilarious
sight gag.
As noted, though, this is Pfeiffer's picture,from its watery opening to its
wistful, somber conclusion.
"What Lies Beneath," distributed by DreamWorks,
APTV-O7-17-00 1249PDT
At the Movies: 'What Lies Beneath
By DAVID GERMAIN; AP Entertainment Writer;
PG-13. Runs 130 minutes