Cinema: Dark House, Red Herrings

The doings are familiarly evil in What Lies Beneath

Is the wind playing tricks? Or does the front door need a locksmith's attention? Surely the supernatural wouldn't waste its forces making a door swing open whenever the lady of the house (Michelle Pfeiffer as Claire Spencer) walks by.

For an hour or so, What Lies Beneath dwells in this sort of quotidian creepiness. And as long as it does, director Robert Zemeckis' movie goes like a (haunted) house afire--mysterious moans from the heating system, the hint of a stalking presence, even some strange initials on Claire's computer screen. Everyone--especially her gruffly good-natured husband Norman (Harrison Ford)--says Claire is overwrought....

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