What really sets this movie apart from other “horror” movies is that it is really limited on the violence, abeit some scenes have scary situations, but nothing like Scream or The Amityville Horror. While it may not be suitable for small children, you can rest assured your older children will not be exposed to mindless violence or foul language. Most of What Lies Beneath’s scary moments involve “jumping out of your seat” scares during the first half, such as Pfeiffer’s character walking down the hallway, and all of a sudden something falls behind her that will make you jump.
The cast of characters is relatively small, so you get to focus more on Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford(both who have aged fantastically over the years) who are a married couple now with the house to themselves after the daughter goes of to college. Pfeiffer, after a series of events, begins to suspect that her next door neighbor may have been murdered by her husband. She does a little investigating, with a little “Rear Window” thing going on, and then she starts to encounter strange things in her own home.
The bathtub fills up by itself, words appear on a computer screen without anyone typing them, and as she suspects a ghost, Ford just thinks she is making it up in her head. This is only the tip of the iceberg, the story goes much deeper than this, with many twists and turns that will keep you guessing many things until the end.
My only complaint is that some scenes last longer than they should, with more dialog than necessary, especially in the beginning. But “beneath” that, you will be entranced by the master direction of Robert Zemeckis(Castaway, Forrest Gump), and the superb acting abilities of both Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford.
