Robert Zemeckis' self-indulgent direction hangs like an albatross around the celluloid neck of What Lies Beneath, a soft-peddled yuppie horror flick starring Michelle Pfeiffer as a housewife who discovers her idyllic new lakefront home is haunted by the spirit of a dead college student who disappeared after an affair with her professor husband (Harrison Ford). Spine-chilling early spooks give way to a hackneyed, overlong, cry-scream-and-run third act, so drawn out that every ounce of tension evaporates from the screen. With some fine tuning, this could have been a sharp and genuinely scary thriller; as it is, it's just a frustrating movie to watch because of all the wasted potential. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Blackwelder)
What Lies Beneath
DreamWorks, 129 min., PG-13, VHS: $110.99, DVD: $26.99, Jan. 30 Vol. 16, Issue 1
What Lies Beneath
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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