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WHAT LIES BENEATH
WHAT LIES BENEATH is a fairly entertaining thriller that is worth checking out for it's technical wizardry and solid performances. The Dreamworks DVD looks and sounds great, so pick up the disc instead of waiting for pay-per-view. |
This DVD review 
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DVD
reviews are Copyright © 2001 THE CINEMA LASER and may not be copied
or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. |
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WHAT
LIES BENEATH ($27) isn't exactly the film that the promos seemed to
imply. I sat through the television commercials for WHAT LIES BENEATH
more times than I can count and I really expected the movie to be an out
and out supernatural thriller. My expectations aside, WHAT LIES BENEATH
is still a thriller, but it is more of the Hitchcock-ian bent, than a
shocking ghost story.
WHAT
LIES BENEATH stars Harrison Ford
and Michelle Pfeiffer as Dr. Norman Spencer and his wife Claire, who are
easing their way into the empty nest syndrome with their daughter's departure
for college. Like any good mother, Claire misses her daughter deeply,
which only exacerbates the fact that she is still recovering from a high-speed
car crash that occurred a year ago. Making matters worse is the fact that
Norman is a workaholic research scientist, who leaves Claire home alone
much of the time. With too much time on her hands, Claire begins to suspect
that the heated arguments between their next-door neighbors have finally
turned deadly. After some spooky occurrences in her own home, Claire tries
to contact her dearly departed neighbor with an Ouija board. The results
are not what Claire expected and she soon finds that she contacted the
ghost of a woman, with whom her husband once had an affair. Does the specter
want to destroy Claire, her marriage or are the motives of the restless
spirit something completely unexpected. WHAT LIES BENEATH benefits
from the technical wizardry of director Robert Zemeckis, who certainly
knows how to jolt an audience. Unfortunately, the movie's flaws lie in
its screenplay, which has gaps in logic, as well as telegraphing it's
ending well in advance, even though the character's motivations that prompt
that particular ending don't make much sense. The cast of WHAT LIES
BENEATH also features (the underutilized and under appreciated) Diana
Scarwid, Joe Morton, James Remar, Miranda Otto, Katharine Towne, Victoria
Bidewell, Eliott Goretsky and Ray Baker.
Dreamworks
Home Entertainment has made WHAT LIES BENEATH available on DVD
in its proper 2.35:1 aspect ratio and the presentation has been enhanced
for playback on 16:9 displays. Image quality is very pleasing; with a
crisp looking picture that displays a fine level of detail. Colors are
fairly bold looking, while the flesh tones remain very natural. None of
the stronger hues show any signs of chroma noise or bleeding. Blacks are
solid, plus shadow detail excellent during the film's numerous dark scenes.
Additionally, the picture boasts very smooth contrast and highly stable
whites. Digital compression artifacts are well hidden on this cleanly
authored, dual layer DVD.
The
Dolby Digital 5.1 channels soundtrack is nicely mixed and offers full-bodied
sonic experience. Channel separation is very good, which creates an open
sounding forward soundstage. Dialogue is clean, crisp and maintains full
intelligibility, even when sound effects and the music become boisterous.
Strangely enough, surround usage seems limited to the potent musical score
without any sound effects coming from the rear channels. The bass channel
is pretty deep, enhancing the music and adding the requisite punch to
the sound effects. Alan Silvestri's insistent score is reminiscent of
Bernard Herrmann’s work when he was in the full Hitchcock mode. Silvestri’s
music is beautifully recorded and exquisitely integrated into mix to maintain
a very fully level of sonic fidelity. WHAT LIES BENEATH also includes
a DTS 5.1 channels soundtrack that is very similar to the Dolby Digital
track. In DTS, WHAT LIES BENEATH is a bit more life like, with
cleaner sound effects, a slightly fuller bottom end and more detailed
music. While DTS does have a slight edge, the Dolby Digital track is no
slouch, so don't feel as though you are missing anything if you system
only supports the standard bearer. An English Dolby surround soundtrack
is also encoded onto the DVD, as are English subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the interactive menus.
Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection and
set up features, as well as a few extras. Topping the list is a running
audio commentary with director Robert Zemeckis, plus producers Steve Starkey
and Jack Rapke. The commentary is somewhat self-congratulatory, but it
does go into detail about the movie’s cinematic tricks are accomplished.
Also included on the DVD is Constructing The Perfect Thriller
a featurette that looks back on the career of director Robert Zemeckis
as well as taking one behind-the-scenes on the set of WHAT LIES BENEATH.
A theatrical trailer, production notes and cast biographies/filmographies
fill out the extras.
