Robert Zemeckis could turn the making of a ham sandwich into an interesting cinematic experience. His student films were required viewing when I was at USC. One of those films, an eight-minute, non-dialogue short called "The Lift," showed us the at-first humorous, but finally chilling story of a middle-aged man who is cruelly murdered by an ancient elevator. I had never quite seen this dark side of Zemeckis in his feature work, until now.
In What Lies Beneath, he is clearly having fun with the cinematic form while giving us a story that had spouse and I on edge right until the end. Film buffs will enjoy numerous odes to Hitchcock throughout the movie. Indeed, some shots are almost direct visual quotes from such films as Vertigo, Rear Window, and Psycho (the music is an all-too-obvious rip-off of Psycho, too, but a well-done rip-off). The story itself is sort of like "Rear Window Meets Fatal Attraction Meets Vertigo Meets Psycho" -- while the elements are not terribly original, Zemeckis weaves them into something engaging.
Particularly engaging was Michelle Pfeiffer's performance. The film requires her to play on several different levels, and I can't recall seeing her in anything recently where she was so interesting to watch. Harrison Ford sets up all the cues to his character pretty much by the numbers, although being as he is Harrison Ford, one doesn't mind so much. The scary stuff is well done. Zemeckis provides us a fun-house set, full of mirrors and doors (and one pretty damn frightening bathtub) that you just know are going to reveal something scary at every turn of the camera. Rarely, though, do these reveal shots happen right where we expect them. Obviously, Zemeckis is aware that he is dealing with a savvy audience, and he keeps us second-guessing throughout as to where the "gotcha" moments are going to occur.
But even though we enjoyed the ride, I felt cheated afterward. The artifice of the film's elements were too strained in hindsight, and you might find yourself realizing that much of the film's tension was sustained more by apprehension of the next "gotcha" than by real interest in the story and characters themselves. Some of the clues in the film go "clunk" when you hear them, such as when we learn that a cellular phone won't work until one gets to the "middle of the bridge." Some loose ends were never quite tied up. For example, a past car accident that you are led to believe is going to be significant ends up being little more than an excuse for some temporary amnesia.
All in all, I recommend it as a good date movie.
