Judith Randall

I thought the sister was annoying and blandly, lifelessly played by the actress. The mother was relentlessly harsh, without grace. But Anthony Hopkins was great, as usual. The movie didn't live up to the quality and interest of its opening prison scene. It seemed flat after that. A riveting concept whose movie needed life pumped into it.

What Lies Beneath is a horror film with great beauty. And very good actors. It takes place in a dark, creaky old two-story house, somewhere deep in the woods, with its endless number of bare wood doors that squeak when opened, which is way too often. There is a dark lake, whose water gently laps, just beyond the cabin's front steps, like a massive monster, licking its lips in anticipation. And of course, the always well lit beautiful people, reminiscent of the Renaissance paintings, where the artist shines a spotlight on just one aspect of the dark scene, for emphasis. The story isn't original. See Alien. And all the other movies where people are preserved in some type of liquid or goo. And where the villain is some type of reptilian hybrid, with its scaly lizard feet and long flicking forked tongue. Familiar, yes, but it still held my interest, every minute, and kept me uneasy, while rooting for the teenage child to make it out safely. How could it be otherwise. In other words, I liked What Lies Beneath because it's a beautifully filmed and well acted metaphor for life: situations and people are not aways what they seem. Maybe better. Maybe worse. Maybe a lot worse. But it's all we have and we need to make the most of it before the man-lizard comes and suspends us in a glass-topped vestibule is somebody's basement (hell?).