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What Lies Beneath

What Lies Beneath

Drama · Horror · Mystery · 2000

Norman and Claire Spencer are a seemingly happily married couple who uncover a terrible secret… a secret so disturbing it threatens to destroy them.

Movie details

What Lies Beneath

“He was the perfect husband until his one mistake followed them home.”

2000 Drama · Horror · Mystery 2h 10m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

Norman and Claire Spencer are a seemingly happily married couple who uncover a terrible secret… a secret so disturbing it threatens to destroy them.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over What Lies Beneath?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Blackwater Lane

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A couple and their children move into a seemingly normal suburban home. When strange events occur, they begin to believe there is something else in the house with them. The presence is about to disrupt their lives in unimaginable ways.

Backrooms

Backrooms

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A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom.

Sisters

Sisters

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Inquisitive journalist Grace Collier is horrified when she witnesses her neighbor, fashion model Danielle Breton, violently murder a man. Panicking, she calls the police. But when the detective arrives at the scene and finds nothing amiss, Grace is forced to take matters into her own hands. Her first move is to recruit private investigator Joseph Larch, who helps her to uncover a secret about Danielle's past that has them both seeing double.

Stir of Echoes

Stir of Echoes

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After being hypnotized by his sister-in-law, Tom Witzky begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.

Don't Look Now

Don't Look Now

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While grieving a terrible loss, a married couple meet two mysterious sisters, one of whom gives them a message sent from the afterlife.

Fear of Rain

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Watcher

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As a serial killer stalks the city, Julia — a young actress who just moved to town with her husband — notices a mysterious stranger watching her from across the street.

The Night House

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Reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, Beth is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. Soon she begins to uncover her recently deceased husband's disturbing secrets.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Robert Zemeckis

Written by

Clark Gregg · Sarah Kernochan

Michelle Pfeiffer

Michelle Pfeiffer

Claire Spencer

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford

Norman Spencer

Diana Scarwid

Diana Scarwid

Jody

Joe Morton

Joe Morton

Dr. Drayton

James Remar

James Remar

Warren Feur

Miranda Otto

Miranda Otto

Mary Feur

Wendy Crewson

Wendy Crewson

Elena

Court is in session

Put What Lies Beneath on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.