Revisit: WHAT LIES BENEATH--My Take on the movie with ending spoilers!
Plot: Claire begins to believe her house is haunted, but her husband Norman thinks it's paranoia.
WHAT LIES BENEATH (2000) may be flawed, but it was inspiring enough for Bollywood filmmakers to remake it and spawn a successful horror franchise.
Interestingly, critics felt the Bollywood remake RAAZ was better than the original, but that could be because it manages to tighten some of the plot holes.
Quick Movie Review
WHAT LIES BENEATH starts off slow, relies heavily on tropes, and is predictable. But the ending saves the movie from being a total mess. And of course, we have the very talented Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford as leads.
WHAT LIES BENEATH Plot
Claire is a retired cellist who lives with her husband Norman. Her daughter Caitlin has left for college, and Claire has empty nest syndrome. In the previous year, Claire was in a serious car accident.
When the new neighbors, Mary and Warren, are in a movie, Claire becomes a busy neighbor and keeps spying on them since they are fighting all the time. After Mary disappears, Claire suspects that Warren may have something to do with it. Her suspicions lead her to believe that the unusual occurrences in her house and a lady's face in the lake may be Mary back from the dead.
However, Mary is alive and well, leaving Claire bewildered about who she may be haunted by.
Another supernatural occurrence in her house leads her to find a key that opens a jewelry box containing Norman's student's lock of hair and photo. The student's name was Madison Elizabeth Frank, a student who disappeared a year ago. Her initials, MEF, also align with the message on the bathroom mirror.
As Claire resorts to conducting a seance, she is briefly possessed by Madison and makes a move on Norman.
Later, Claire meets with Madison's mother, and after seeing a reflection in the water, she remembers her accident from a year ago and how it happened.
She had walked into her home and found Norman and Madison together, causing her to rush out of the house and end up in an accident that wiped away the memory of the accident.
Norman, of course, goes on about how Madison was obsessed with him and had committed suicide when she realized she couldn't have him.
Claire does believe him at first, and how he tried to cover up the suicide by putting Madison in the car and tossing it into the lake.
Claire believes him until he, of course, injects her with a drug to paralyze her.
WHAT LIES BENEATH Ending Spoilers
Norman is obviously up to no good. He was afraid that Madison would expose the affair, and his reputation would be tarnished. He was sure Claire would turn him in, which is why he must now drown her in a bathtub.
Claire tries to save herself by using her toes to unplug, but it doesn't work. Norman gets spooked by Madison's ghost and is knocked out until Claire is able to conveniently get out of the tub.
He comes to, and there's some running about and car chases until they both fall into the lake.
The very lake where Madison has been waiting for over a year for Norman.
She reaches for Norman and finishes him off for Claire, who then resurfaces.
The movie ends with Claire paying respect to the young woman who had an affair with her husband.
FINAL THOUGHTS
What Lies Beneath is slow and takes time to establish the thriller aspect of it. It is memorable for its tense climax, but the twist about Norman doesn't come as a surprise.
I mean, his name is Norman. How many Normans in horror movies have been good? Norman Bates... remember?
Is the Bollywood version better? Kind of.
Scare Scale: 3/5
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