What Lies Beneath
User Score
6.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 33 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 33
  3. Negative: 4 out of 33

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  1. HarrisonF.
    May 4, 2003
    1
    Too slow for its own good SUCKED SUCKED the only reason i giving it a 1 is because i starred in it and michelle phiefer is hot!
  2. JakeG
    Sep 9, 2006
    1
    A stupid plotline really. I mean ghosts in a house? Ghosts going into people's bodies? Corny.
  3. GregF.
    Jul 24, 2001
    3
    I love Michelle Pfeiffer, but this movie just plodded along. A big disappointment.
  4. Erik_Imsen
    Feb 4, 2013
    1
    What lies beneath? Definitely the most impressive and comprehensive collection of cliches, nonsense absurdities and boring moments ever assembled in this pretentious couldn't-possibly-be-slower film. Nothing happens for the first 90 minutes. Pfeiffer wanders in her home trying to look troubled, has pointless encounters with neighbors, plays some ouija with a friend and from time to time exchanges with Ford some dull dialogue that sounds anything but realistic. And when filming nothing seems to have reached it's limits, well, you just get some more. The final twist doesn't come as a surprise -remember, you had 90' to try and guess it out, nothing was happening on the screen- and the final confrontation is sooooo ludicrous that it keeps me wondering if it has been stolen from the Scary Movie franchise. But surprisingly, I actually rather enjoyed the ending. It gets hysterical as every step seems to have been written under the strict rule of "of all options my characters have, what would be the least logical or probable?" This pure overdose of nonsense situations gets really funny, and comes as a nice and more than welcomed frustration relief after sitting through nearly two hours of pretentious pseudo hitchcokian homage. (I know I got Sir Alfred's last name spelled wrong, but it keeps being deleted by some poorly encoded "Politically Correct" protection stuff that doesn't seem to stand the second syllable of Hitchco**)… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
51 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 35
  3. Negative: 4 out of 35
  1. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    30
    At once illogical and insultingly stupid, filled with dead-end twists and the sort of dialogue that makes a mockery of actual adult relations.
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  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    40
    Glazes over faster than a Krispy Kreme doughnut, and neither is very flavorful after sitting around for a while.
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  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    This slow, derivative chiller (which lifts liberally from "Ghost Story," "Rear Window" and "A Stir of Echoes") wastes far too much time on red herrings and telegraphs its plot points with painfully obvious dialogue.
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