Robert Zemeckis takes a page right out of Hitchcock and runs with it in the spooky supernatural thriller WHAT LIES BENEATH. Dr. Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford) and his wife, Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer), seem to have the perfect life: a loving marriage, a daughter just entering college, and a beautiful home on the water in Vermont. But what lies beneath this idyllic existence are secrets that will rip everything apart.
Dr. Spencer is an award-winning scientist whose work is threatening to consume his life; meanwhile, his wife is trying to deal with empty-nest syndrome now that her beloved daughter has gone off to college. Strange things start happening around the house, and Claire starts believing that the man next door murdered his wife and that the wife is trying to contact her from beyond the grave. Dr. Spencer is worried that Claire needs psychological help; he refuses to believe that their house is haunted. But as more and more dangerous events unfold, a frightening truth threatens to destroy everything. Robert Zemeckis's modern-day ghost story trembles with threatening close-ups, a powerful musical score--and lots of terror. And it does for bathtubs what Alfred Hitchcock did for showers.
This chilling romantic mystery from director Robert Zemeckis (FORREST GUMP, CONTACT, BACK TO THE FUTURE) casts Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer as a quiet couple living in the hills of Vermont. However, when they begin seeing visions of a woman who is haunting their house, the husband confesses that it is the ghost of a young girl with whom he had an affair--and who might have been murdered. A sexy and suspenseful film, WHAT LIES BENEATH will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Theatrical release: July 21, 2000.
Estimated budget: $65 million.
The film grossed more than $220 million worldwide.
WHAT LIES BENEATH was filmed on location in Addison, Vermont, on Lake Champlain, as well as in an L.A. studio.
In preparing for the movie, director Robert Zemeckis recounted saying to his special effects supervisor, Rob Legato, "Imagine, what would Alfred Hitchcock do if he had computer graphics?"
Robert Zemeckis won a Student Academy Award in 1973 for FIELD OF HONOR, which he made while at USC film school.
Zemeckis started making films when he was in the eighth grade.
Both the Spencer house and the Feur house, as well as the dock, were built especially for the film.
The original idea for the film--about a couple visited by a student ghost--came from Steven Spielberg.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Lenticular O-Sleeve
Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary - 1. Robert Zemeckis - Director, Steve Starkey - Producer, Jack Rapke - Producer
Making-of - 1. HBO First Look: CONSTRUCTING A THRILLER
Trailers
Parental Lock
Text/Photo Galleries:
Production Notes
Biographies - 1. Cast & Crew
Production Art
Director of Photography
Don Burgess:
Production Designer
Rick Carter: Production Designer, THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004)
Story
Clark Gregg: American actor, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE
Story
Sarah Kernochan: Documentary Filmmaker/ Screenwriter
Production Designer
William Teegarden: Production Designer
Review 1:
"...Chilling..."
Source: New York Times
p.E10 07/21/2000
Review 2:
"What lies beneath WHAT LIES BENEATH are the good bones of Alfred Hitchcock....[Pfeiffer is] electrically alive..." -- Rating: B
Source: Entertainment Weekly
pp.151-2 07/28/2000
Review 3:
"...Zemeckis is having a grand time making his audiences jump..."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.64-5 11/01/2000
Review 4:
Ranked #7 in Entertainment Weekly's "Owen Gleiberman's BEST MOVIES OF 2000"
Source: Entertainment Weekly
pp.106-17 12/22/2000
Review 5:
"...An effective supernatural thriller, worthy of the tag 'Hitchcockian'..."
Source: Total Film
p.115 05/01/2000
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