What Lies Beneath. 2000. Directed Robert Zemeckis.
Robert Zemeckis’s What Lies Beneath is a neo/noir that tips its hat to Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay, written by Clark Gregg, who cleverly worked in the best bits of a Hitchcock thriller. Utilizing the talent of Harrison Ford (Norman Spencer) and Michelle Pfeiffer (Claire Spencer), Zemeckis built some back of the neck hair raising moments. The cinematographer Don Burgess focused on surfaces (mirrors, water, windows, floors, etc) to move the audience toward thinking that everything is not as it seems. There is a big red herring thrown in at the beginning to make us think along one path. However, there are many paths of logic in this What Lies Beneath but, one will not be able to make a conclusion until the end. Zemeckis made a timeless thriller. The score by Alan Silverstri keeps the audience on the edge of the seat. If Hitchcock were alive, he would congratulate him.