Product Details

• Actors: Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Katharine Towne, Miranda Otto, James Remar
• Directors: Robert Zemeckis
• Writers: Clark Gregg, Sarah Kernochan
• Producers: Robert Zemeckis, Cherylanne Martin, Jack Rapke, Joan Bradshaw, Mark Johnson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Dreamworks Video
• VHS Release Date: May 15, 2001
• Run Time: 136 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (350 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003CXI6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,057 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hitchcock's ghost, August 18, 2005

By 

milss "Yellow hair warrior" (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: What Lies Beneath (DVD)

Robert Zemeckis makes his homage to Hitchcock in What Lies Beneath, starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer.

The Spencer's -Claire and Norman- are a supposedly happy and successful marriage. He is a prominent scientist, she's an ex musician that just left her only daughter at college. Free time takes Mrs. Spencer to spy on her neighbors, and from that activity she believes that a crime has been perpetrated next door. Insecure and nervous, Claire's paranoia grows as a series of paranormal events take place in her perfect home: doors open and close, electrical equipment turn on automatically, spectral visions in the bathtub. Are all these things related? That's one of the many secrets the movie hides.

A lonely home, secrets trying to be revealed, darkness, ghosts and the impending sensation that we are not sure what our eyes are seeing, What Lies Beneath has enough elements to hook you up for a scary time. Zemeckis takes advantage from every trick, cliche and ideas to spice the story, until he leaves us with a terrible deja vu sensation. The result is a supernatural thriller cleverly built, part psychological, part ghost story.

And one could very well wonder, when Michelle Pfeiffer sees a spectral reflex on the water, if the ghost we are seeing is indeed Mr Hitchcock.

As soon as the credits vanish, we take a walk from moments of Rear Window, Suspicion, Vertigo and even Psycho. The cinematic references overwhelm us, from the lead man's name, the disturbing music score, the movie's rhythm, the creepy house alone on a hill. Hitch's fans will enjoy tremendously this tribute

Pfeiffer and Ford are two stars talented and very charismatic, whose performances give more depth to the story. Pfeiffer, above all, is very convincing as the housewife victim of a series of inexplicable events. Her terror and her pain are very truthful. Ford is somewhat relegated to a second place.

In the end, the secrets that hide What Lies Beneath are not so interesting. The excess of subplots, tributes and tricks make the movie into a series of brilliant moments that are bigger than the whole. For the entertaining time, we can thank Zemeckis. For the suspense and fear that comes from our inner souls, let's thank Hitchcock, the man that understood that, in a good story, there must lie beneath secrets and emotions too scary to be revealed ever.

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Genuinely Creepy, December 21, 2000

By 

Bradford Wilson (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Lies Beneath (DVD)

In a time in which good horror/suspense movies are few and far between, Robert Zemeckis brings us a wonderfully and surprisingly taut and well-balanced thriller filmed in the grand tradition of the great Alfred Hitchcock. Finally, a horror movie that doesn't rely on fake blood and cheesy special effects to wow the crowd, or attempt to scare the feeble minded. The movie is centered around a couple, recently moved, who has discovered a supernatural presence in their new dwelling. The wife, Claire (played beautifully by Michelle Pfeiffer, in one of the best female performances of the year) believes it to be the ghost of the neighbor she suspects has been murdered. The husband, Norman (played well by Harrison Ford) of course, thinks she is crazy. The movie twists and turns around this basic central plot, leading to an ending that, although not terrible, I'm still not quite buying. The greatness of the movie comes not from the plot, but from the style in which the film was created. Some of the devices are a bit overused (a door opens mysteriously about three times too many), but not too much as to distract the viewer. There are some great scenes that, although clichéd, (there's a wonderful scene that borrows heavily from Rear Window) work beautifully and really instill a sense of apprehension in the viewer. Also, Zemeckis utilizes silence to build suspense where a lesser director might use the old disonant-music-crescendos-into-a-big-loud-scare tactic that we see all too often in horror movies. Somewhere along the way, the line between horror movies and slasher films has blurred. It seems now that if you want to scare people, all you need is some fake blood and a knife. This movie proves that something can still be scary without dumbing it down.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHILLING AND SUSPENSEFUL, February 1, 2001

By 

Nick G - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Lies Beneath (DVD)

Norman and Claire Spencer (Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer) are a happily married couple whose lives are about to change.

Settling in a new home, and coming to grips with her daughter going off to college, Claire, will begin to see ghostly images, and hear voices...this will escalate to doors opening, computers turning on by themself, and horrifying personal messages.

At first, Claire, attributes these things to stress, but when they become all too-real she begins investigating the clues that are being given to her.

It seems the disappearance of a young girl (the beautiful Amber Valletta) who bears a striking resemblence to Claire, is somehow connected to this family, and her ghost will not rest until until someone pays for their sins.

"What Lies Beneath" is a superb shocker, that grabs the viewer immediately and pulls them on a 2 hour ride of supernatural thrills and chills. Although the trailer gave away more information than it should have, I will not...leaving all the shocks intact in the film.

Great acting, great scares, and great direction make for a very entertaining movie experience.

Nick Gonnella