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Actors: Harrison Ford,Michelle Pfeiffer
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about What Lies Beneath |
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College professor Norman Spencer (Ford) and his wife Claire (Pfeiffer) appear to have an idyllic marriage and life. She is a retired concert cellist who was injured a year before in a car crash. Of late she has been hearing voices and seeing strange visions around their lakeside home in Vermont, especially the face of a young woman in the water. Maybe she's feeling tensions in the house next door? The wife of that couple seems to have disappeared suddenly and without explanation. Norman dismisses her concerns and suggests she try therapy, and she does. The therapist urges her to make contact with the ghost, and learn what may lie beneath. This decent suspense thriller from 2000 has many Hitchcockian references, and Pfeiffer does an excellent acting job (Ford is given much less to do), but the film has a pat, perfunctory quality to it -- perhaps partly because director Robert Zemeckis polished it off during a break in filming "Cast Away" while waiting for Tom Hanks to lose a lot of weight for his later island scenes.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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Horror movie about a house wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) haunted by the spirit of a young woman seeking for help and revenge. Michelle Pfeiffer's character find out really nasty secrets in his husband's past.
--Lindsay Jacobson, Resident Scholar
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Norman and Claire Spencer had the perfect relationship until Claire started hearing noises and seeing things. She discovers there's a ghost in her house and she must unravel the mystery before it's too late.
--Steph Swanger, Resident Scholar
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A triller with a twist in the end. Things started to went wrong when Claire(Michelle Pfeiffer) began investigation of the murder of a college student whom appeared to 'seek' her help.
--Jenny, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of What Lies Beneath |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 27.5%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 32.5%
Time/Era of Movie:
- 1980's-1999
Horror film?
Yes
Horror Plotlets:
- haunted house or boat
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- teacher/professor
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- short/standard straight (man)
Body type
- average (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- irritated
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- blonde
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn, straight
How much in movie?
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- teacher/professor
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
- 90%-100%
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Water?
Yes
Water:
- drowning
Misc setting
- scientific labs
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately messy visuals of dead
Movie makes you feel...
- concerned
- all mixed up
How many deaths in film?
- 2
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
- sex under blankets
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 1 (None)
Kind of violence:
- hand to hand
- guns
Unusual forms of death
- fright
- drowned
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
- Some foul language
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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