Movie Description
Robert Zemeckis takes a page right out of Hitchcock and runs with it in the spooky supernatural thriller WHAT LIES BENEATH. Dr. Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford) and his wife, Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer), seem to have the perfect life: a loving marriage, a daughter just entering college, and a beautiful home on the water in Vermont. But what lies beneath this idyllic existence are secrets that will rip everything apart.
Dr. Spencer is an award-winning scientist whose work is threatening to consume his life; meanwhile, his wife is trying to deal with empty-nest syndrome now that her beloved daughter has gone off to college. Strange things start happening around the house, and Claire starts believing that the man next door murdered his wife and that the wife is trying to contact her from beyond the grave. Dr. Spencer is worried that Claire needs psychological help; he refuses to believe that their house is haunted. But as more and more dangerous events unfold, a frightening truth threatens to destroy everything. Robert Zemeckis's modern-day ghost story trembles with threatening close-ups, a powerful musical score--and lots of terror. And it does for bathtubs what Alfred Hitchcock did for showers.
| Credits | | Writer: | Steven Spielberg | | Producer: | Jack Rapke, Robert Zemeckis, Steve Starkey | | Cast: | Amber Valletta, Harrison Ford, Rachel Singer |
| Details | | Sound: | Stereo Sound |
Notes
Theatrical release: July 21, 2000.
Estimated budget: $65 million.
The film grossed more than $220 million worldwide.
WHAT LIES BENEATH was filmed on location in Addison, Vermont, on Lake Champlain, as well as in an L.A. studio.
In preparing for the movie, director Robert Zemeckis recounted saying to his special effects supervisor, Rob Legato, "Imagine, what would Alfred Hitchcock do if he had computer graphics?"
Robert Zemeckis won a Student Academy Award in 1973 for FIELD OF HONOR, which he made while at USC film school.
Zemeckis started making films when he was in the eighth grade.
Both the Spencer house and the Feur house, as well as the dock, were built especially for the film.
The original idea for the film--about a couple visited by a student ghost--came from Steven Spielberg.
Editorial Reviews
"...Chilling..."
New York Times - p.E10 - Elvis Mitchell (07/21/2000)
"What lies beneath WHAT LIES BENEATH are the good bones of Alfred Hitchcock....[Pfeiffer is] electrically alive..." -- Rating: B
Entertainment Weekly - pp.151-2 - Lisa Schwarzbaum (07/28/2000)
"...Zemeckis is having a grand time making his audiences jump..."
Sight and Sound - p.64-5 - Philip Strick (11/01/2000)
Ranked #7 in Entertainment Weekly's "Owen Gleiberman's BEST MOVIES OF 2000"
Entertainment Weekly - pp.106-17 - Owen Gleiberman (12/22/2000)
"...An effective supernatural thriller, worthy of the tag 'Hitchcockian'..."
Total Film - Dan Jolin (05/01/2000)
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