What Lies Beneath (Rental) (2000) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Thriller | None | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2000 | ||
Running Time | 124:31 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (54:18) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Robert Zemeckis |
Studio
Distributor |
Twentieth Century Fox |
Starring |
Harrison Ford Michelle Pfeiffer Diana Scarwid |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | Rental | Music | Alan Silvestri |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes, mildly | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfieffer, I was pleased to see a horror movie where the cast did not consist exclusively of young beautiful things and a superhuman psycho taking them off one by one. In fact, I couldn't spot one cast member of "Dawson's Creek", a fact that I was quite happy about. Rather, the leads play Norman and Claire Spencer, who initially seem to be in possession of the perfect life: Norman is a respected professor of genetics. Claire happily tends to the garden of their wonderful house, and they have a beautiful daughter who has just left the family home to attend college. But underneath this veneer of happiness, there runs an undercurrent. Norman lives in the shadow of his father, and even though he holds a prestigious position, and is on the verge of a major discovery himself, people continue to congratulate him on his dead father's theorem; Claire was in a bad car accident a year ago, and still seems to bear the emotional scars, and now that her daughter to whom she was close has left home her empty nest resonates with silence, especially seeing as Norman is buried in his work. So when Claire starts to hear noises around the house, and starts believing that her neighbour has killed his wife, it is assumed that she's having trouble dealing with the changes in her life. But she has a pretty good case to suggest that her house is in fact being haunted by something or someone, and as she investigates these fears and beliefs (as well as her sanity), a tale unfolds, which may or may not have something to do with unrest in the supernatural world.
The acting is universally excelent, without necessarily crossing the line to brilliant. Harrison Ford is his usual solid self but the center of this film is Michelle Pfeiffer who shows wonderful fragility beneath her delicate beauty and never crosses the line into overacting, a real danger in this genre. Miranda Otto (True Love and Chaos) has a small but vital role which she carries off well and Diana Scarwid (Silkwood) is excellent as Claire's "kooky but lovable" friend Jody.
Director Robert Zemekis expertly builds tension throughout the first hour of the movie by using paranoia to create a creepy, isolated picture of a woman starting to lose her mind in the caverns of her empty mansion by a lake. Through the use of shimmering icy blue waters, mirrors and windows, Zemeckis suggests (as does the title) that there are things bubbling below the surface in this otherwise perfect domestic situation, and there is always the idea that there is something just around the corner generated by an almost constantly moving camera and superb shot composition. In the second hour, there is a distinct shift of pace toward that of a conventional thriller as these elements come to the fore, however the film is engaging enough to carry you through (albeit the long way) to an ending that I found nicely surprising. I suppose that before I saw this movie I knew very little about the plot. The trailer reveals quite a bit, and if you haven't seen this movie yet, you've probably got a better idea as to what is going to happen than I did when I first saw it which will probably lessen the impact of the plot shifts. Notwithstanding that, What Lies Beneath is a creditable addition to the supernatural thriller genre, and definitely worth a look.
The transfer overall was very sharp and nicely detailed. There were a couple of scenes that were a little softer than the rest, although this was probably artistic intent rather than transfer defect, as sharpness was as I remembered it from the theatrical exhibition. Shadow detail was excellent: many scenes feature extensive shadow or low light, and there was plenty to see in these darker parts. I didn't spot any grain despite the lack of light, or low level noise.
Most of the colours on display in this movie were quite cool, with whites, light blues and tans dominating. Where there were bright colours (such as for example in the garden of Norman and Claire's house) they were represented vividly and warmly. Much of the action takes place in low light or at night, so the brightness of the colour representation is restricted by that fact.
I didn't spot any MPEG artefacts, but aliasing, although mild, was plentiful: at 5:56, 39:19 to 41:57, 49:05 to 49:57 and 51:05 to 52:38 on horizontal blinds, on Norman's shirt between 14:30 and 15:31 and then between 24:20 and 26:09, at 14:57 on a car grille, on a tweed jacket from 32:40 to 36:00, 59:50 on a PC vent, 86:10 on a boat, and finally at 88:06 on a building. I only noticed about three solitary film artefacts in total on what was an extremely clean print.
This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed midway through Chapter 12 at 54:18. It is placed mid-scene, and is therefore quite distracting.
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The dialogue was always reasonably easy to understand, with the exception of a number of lines that are whispered. Audio sync was not a concern.
Alan Silvestri (Forrest Gump) has become something of a doyen among film composers, and with this orchestral score, he adds to his impressive resume. It beautifully enhanced the atmosphere of the movie (particularly the first half), although it occasionally telegraphed an impending scary event.
The use of the surrounds was the real disappointment of this audio track. The score was well mixed, and enveloped me nicely when it was playing, but for the remainder of the sound, they were practically silent. There was one scene in particular where a character is in a house and it is raining heavily all around, but not a sound was to be heard from the surrounds. Directional effects, such as cars driving out of the side of the frame tended to end with the range of the front speakers.
The subwoofer was reasonably active. There were many notes in the lower register from the score, and occasionally, a low rumble often employed in movies featuring the supernatural was nicely employed to increase tension levels. It was also employed for effects such as thunder, slamming doors, and the like.
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NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on:
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Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Toshiba 2109, using S-Video output |
Display | Sony Trinitron Wega (80cm). Calibrated with AVIA Guide To Home Theatre. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with AVIA Guide To Home Theatre. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX-D608 |
Speakers | Front: Yamaha NS10M, Rear: Wharfedale Diamond 7.1, Center: Wharfedale Sapphire, Sub: Aaron 120W |