What Lies Beneath

Review - Ok, I can't call this film a classic but they made it like it was a classic.  Not since Brian DePalma remade Cape Fear have I been so wrapped up, and unnerved, and just plain bug-eyed during a film as I was during What Lies Beneath.

I'm not gonna spend much time on this one because it's so much fun to experience it under it's semi-virginal tones (oh how bad) but I will say that the Hitchcock similarities are abundant.  This film oozes...Mood, creepiness, and music, and tension.  The kind of film that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

The characters, dialogue, film shots, and metaphorical connotations to the title are easily from another era of filmmaking.  The supporting cast and (even) the main characters have their dialogue and screen time cut short and to the point; they’re fulfilling a need and they do that effectively.  The music is eerie and well timed.  The film shots are classic, daunting, and innovative. Specifically when you're looking at an object from above the hard wood floor.  The camera curves down in an arc in front of the object and ends below the object, effectively turning the hardwood floor to glass.  Friggin' trippy.

Michelle Pheiffer is great and Harrison Ford hasn't been this good or interesting to watch in forever.  He's taken that 'bell-boy' role to heart again.

I'll close with this:  I read a reviewer state:  "Zemekis does for bathtubs what Hitchcock did for showers."  I can't agree wholeheartedly, but I guarantee that you'll be talking about that bathtub.

-m-