What Lies Beneath | Rotten Tomatoes

What Lies Beneath

PG-13

Released Jul 21, 2000

2h 6m

Mystery & Thriller

Horror

Drama

TRAILER

for What Lies Beneath: Trailer 1

List

47%

127 Reviews

Tomatometer

58%

250,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

It had been a year since Dr. Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford) betrayed his beautiful wife Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer). But with Claire oblivious to the truth, Norman's life and marriage seem so perfect that when Claire tells him of hearing mysterious voices and seeing a young woman's image in their home, he dismisses her terror as delusion. Claire moves closer to the truth and it becomes clear that this apparition will not be dismissed, and has come back for Dr. Spencer and his beautiful wife.

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Critics Consensus

Robert Zemeckis is unable to salvage an uncompelling and unoriginal film.

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Cross between Fatal Attraction, Poltergeist.

Rated: 2/5

Dec 29, 2010

Full Review

Globe and Mail

Rated: 2.5/4

Apr 25, 2003

Full Review

Steven D. Greydanus

Decent Films

Most of the “boo” moments are obvious a mile off, which makes it hard to be properly frightened, or even startled.

Rated: D+

May 8, 2002

Full Review

Alan Jones

Radio Times

Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer star in this formulaic but highly enjoyable supernatural thriller from director Robert Zemeckis.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 9, 2024

Full Review

Trace Thurman

Horror Queers Podcast

It's hard to fault Zemeckis for doing Hitchcock when he does it this well.

Rated: 4.5/5

Dec 30, 2020

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

It's ultimately impossible not to label What Lies Beneath as a missed opportunity that could and should have been much, much better...

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 15, 2016

Full Review

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Douglas H

How did everyone miss the GLARING PLOT HOLE? The ghost in the story can play computer card games, can knock over pictures, and can move a ouija board planchette... why didn't the ghost just write a message on the computer to Pfeiffer's character and tell her how her husband murdered her and where she was buried? Story over, Harrison Ford goes straight to jail, an hour and a half saved from watching this.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/18/24

Full Review

Blu B

In general besides the turn it takes into a ghost story instead of something like Rear Window/Disturbia, the majority of suspense scenes are exactly what you think they are and nothing more. This results in pretty much everything being just fundamentally ok about it which is more than I thought it would be because the first 40 minutes or so really isn't that good. It meanders at points but especially during the first half where it really feels like stuff just happens as she tries to figure out if her neighbor was murdered Hitchcock style and it really ends up going nowhere and is a BIG waste of time because man this feels like a long movie. IT does get better when it takes a ghost story twist and gets bit more creepy and interesting but it throws all that away for a action /lifetime movie of the month style ending. It really never does that good a job mixing the murder and supernatural stuff together overall. Especially the opening 40 minutes feels like a big waste and could've been cut completely. This is also LOADED with pointless jumpscares. The direction technical wise is actually pretty solid and the setting is memorable but it's weighed down by gimmicks like the jumpscares and a poor pacing at the end which is critical for a thriller. The ending never ramps up and instead just stays pretty consistent with the slow burn the entire way. It needed to speed up, build tension, or both and it never did. Pfeiffer is the best thing in this and overall isn't bad and quite good in a lot of scenes. She does some dumb stuff at the end getting the phone and stuff though. Ford is ok also. Unless your a big Pfeiffer fan most people should skip this.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/14/24

Full Review

Catherine R

So, I'm biased because I love Harrison Ford. He's Indiana Jones however it was pretty exciting and terrifying seeing him as the villain. I think one of the things I wasn't too fond of was that Norman hears from Claire sooo many times that terrifying and unexplainable things are happening in their house multiple times and the ONLY time he believes her is when he discovers the lock of hair that Claire jumped into the lake to get. The way he was condescending towards her about all the supernatural stuff, saying how "Claire, you were in an accident last year, it's understandable that you're scared again but there's nothing to be afraid of". When clearly, there was. Other that that, I really enjoyed the film. My first Michelle Pfeiffer film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/07/24

Full Review

Avalon T

One of the scariest movies I've ever watched. Great acting and plot with many surprising twists and turns. Highly recommend this one if you like psychological thrillers.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/29/23

Full Review

Joel H

What Lies Beneath has a lot of jump scares. In fact, it may have too many. However, I have to admit that they work. Many of them still make me jump each time I watch it. This is an old-fashioned Hitchcockian suspense thriller with a supernatural twist. You wouldn't expect a horror film about empty nesters being so intense, but Michelle Pfeiffer is giving her role everything she's got, and Harrison Ford's performance is enjoyably unexpected. Yes, there are plenty of ways you could pick the plot apart, and the visual effects look a little dated now, but this is an eerie & effective PG-13 horror film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/05/23

Full Review

Joseph L

Critics got this wrong. This is a well crafted homage to Hitchcock that delivers.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

10/28/23

Full Review

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Robert Zemeckis

Director

Harrison Ford

Norman Spencer

Michelle Pfeiffer

Claire Spencer

Diana Scarwid

Jody

Miranda Otto

Mary Feur

James Remar

Warren Feur

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What Lies Beneath: Official Clip - Channeling the Dead

2:09

What Lies Beneath: Official Clip - What Do You Want?

2:01

What Lies Beneath: Official Clip - You Killed Her, Didn't You?

2:04

What Lies Beneath: Official Clip - Drowning in the Bathtub

2:13

What Lies Beneath: Official Clip - I Think She's Starting to Suspect Something

2:13

What Lies Beneath: Official Clip - I Know You Killed Her

2:03

What Lies Beneath: Official Clip - The Woman That Lies Beneath

2:12

What Lies Beneath: Official Clip - Setting up a Suicide

2:13

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What Lies Beneath: Trailer 1

2:27

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Synopsis

It had been a year since Dr. Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford) betrayed his beautiful wife Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer). But with Claire oblivious to the truth, Norman's life and marriage seem so perfect that when Claire tells him of hearing mysterious voices and seeing a young woman's image in their home, he dismisses her terror as delusion. Claire moves closer to the truth and it becomes clear that this apparition will not be dismissed, and has come back for Dr. Spencer and his beautiful wife.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Producer: Joan Bradshaw, Mark Johnson
Screenwriter: Clark Gregg, Sarah Kernochan, Clark Gregg
Distributor: DreamWorks SKG, 20th Century Fox
Production Co: ImageMovers, 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks SKG
Rating: PG-13 (Sensuality|Brief Language|Terror|Violence)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Horror, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 21, 2000, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $155.4M
Runtime: 2h 6m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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