What Lies Beneath

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Under the Radar

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Have you ever realized that mainstream ghost/haunting/supernatural movies seem to come and go in phases? One of the longest lineups of them seemed to exist in the late 90s and early 2000s before 'Paranormal Activity' resurrected the obsession in 2009. But this was part of that ghost phase that existed beforehand when none of it was great, but there was a creepy fun factor to them and we'd now watch them as "average at best" nostalgic films. Lucky for me, I can still get a kick out of some of these earlier works, but I can't deny that we've come so far that this era simply isn't scary anymore.

​The film takes place one year following a bad car accident, where a former cellist named Claire Spencer (Michelle Pfeiffer), and her husband, Norman (Harrison Ford), send their daughter, Caitlin (Katharine Towne) off to college. Caitlin's absence seems to strain the couple's relationship, and matters are made worse when Claire suspects their neighbor Warren (James Remar) of murdering his wife, Mary (Miranda Otto). Strange, supernatural occurrences further her suspicions, as so many signs point to the house potentially being haunted by Mary's ghost. However, when Mary is revealed to be alive, the paranormal activity continues, and Claire continues to dig until she finds the eventual, disturbing truth behind the spirit lurking in their house.

I think that for its respective time, in the year 2000, this really isn't bad. But I will say that to watch it now, it seems pretty typical and even predictable with its twist ending. It's also not a haunting movie in nearly the same sense as more of the modern stuff. Really, this is a little more of a mystery with a paranormal element to it, fueled by the two leads' names. Back in 2000, Pfeiffer and Ford were well-known in the industry, so they certainly add some pizzazz to the whole deal. That said, I have to say that nowadays the film would probably work better as a straight-to-Netflix miniseries or something along those lines. Ghost-related movies have come a very long way since this, and there's simply no scare factor here anymore. I'd even call it kind of dull, if I'm honest, which sucks because I remember enjoying this when it was initially released.

I placed this one "Under the Radar", despite it being fairly well-known, because no one ever talks about it anymore. I wanted to revisit it in order to ponder why that might be. My conclusion is that I think it's one of those movies where once the ending was out, the "spoiler twist" just wasn't "twisty" enough. Bear in mind that this was released a year after 'The Sixth Sense' as well, which pretty well set the bar for a good twist ending to a ghost movie. This plain and simply didn't quite meet the bar, partly due to predictability, and party due to it having very little impact. It's mildly interesting anymore at best, at least as part of the late 90s/early 2000s supernatural craze. It's even parodied in 'Scary Movie 2', which set its focus on the same craze.

I guess if you can find it, and you're looking for something creepy but simple, it could be worth checking out. It's certainly not without its moments, but it is relatively slow-moving and I wouldn't say things really truly pick up with any sort of intensity until about three quarters of the way through. The climax to this is quite well done, but it's a long way to get there - like having to walk a few miles for a pint of cold beer, but it's local beer and nothing fancy. I don't consider this a bad movie like many seem to, but it's still just average at best, and some of the technology dates it horribly. You should get a load of their car phone. Anyway, check it out if your curious to see a ghost movie before they got terrifying. Otherwise, it's perfectly skippable, and its stars shine better elsewhere.

3/5

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