directed by robert zemeckis . screenplay by clark gregg , from a story by sarah kernochan and gregg . starring michelle pfeiffer , harrison ford , diana scarwid . running time : 129 minutes . rated aa by the mfcb . reviewed on july 25th , 2000 . when i went to see " the sixth sense " for the first time last year , i was dismayed by how much of the first two-thirds of the film was spoiled by the trailer . the movie was obviously constructed with the assumption that the viewer was unaware haley joel osment's character could see dead people . otherwise , the entire opening act constituted a thinly-veiled exercise in misdirection , and i have more respect for the picture than to believe that . in the end , although i was very much entertained " the sixth sense " , i was left wondering how much more enthralled i would have been had so much not been revealed to me in the promotional material . a year later , and wouldn't you know that history has repeated itself . this time , the offending party is the preview for " what lies beneath " , the new thriller starring michelle pfeiffer and harrison ford , and directed by robert zemeckis ( " back to the future " , " forrest gump " ) . as poorly-conceived as the trailer for " the sixth sense " was , its " what lies beneath " counterpart is infinitely more risible . in this day and age of inspired , creative marketing strategies like the " blair witch project " website and the " x-men " political campaign , it amazes me that we are still forced to endure such hamfisted efforts as this one . however , i refuse to review " what lies beneath " on the basis of its trailer alone ( although i am rather appalled that zemeckis has actually condoned it because , essentially , he doesn't think people will see his movie without knowing the plot beforehand ) . it is true to say that my enjoyment of the film was hampered because i had too much foreknowledge of the events . but i will make every effort to set this aside , and review " what lies beneath " on its own merits . as the film opens , norman spencer ( ford ) and his wife claire ( pfeiffer ) are seeing their daughter off to college , leaving just the two of them alone in their old lakeside vermont cottage . spencer is a genetics professor who sometimes seems married more to his work than to his wife . as a result , claire is often left alone in the house . when neighbour warren feur's wife mary ( miranda otto ) goes missing after an argument , strange things start happening . doors open by themselves , electronics misbehave , and claire thinks she sees a face in the water . she becomes convinced that warren ( james remar ) has murdered his wife , and that she is now being haunted by mary's ghost . norman , however , thinks his wife is going insane . with " what lies beneath " , zemeckis is clearly trying to evoke hitchcock . most obviously , the entire subplot about the feurs is a lift right out of my own all-time favourite movie , " rear window " , as claire spies on the neighbours through binoculars and finds disturbing but circumstantial evidence of foul play . but here is one way the trailer helps to undermine the picture ( and if you haven't seen it , skip to the next paragraph now ) . we know that the ghost isn't mary feur , so the entire sequence -- which occupies most of the first half of the movie -- feels exactly like the elaborate red herring that it is . as a result , i found myself impatiently wanting the movie to just get on with it . zemeckis does successfully create a creepy atmosphere ; there are plenty of scares in " what lies beneath " , and some of the effects ( the face in the water , a message in the condensation on a bathroom mirror ) are understated but work very well . the movie is cheapened , though , by the use of several thriller cliches -- the sudden appearance of a family pet , the best friend with coincidental occult inclinations , the killer who just won't die . most notably , zemeckis badly overuses the device of having a character suddenly appear in the frame . this was effective the first few times , but it got rather silly when i lost track of the number of times it occurred . helping to foster the sinister atmosphere is a fine performance by pfeiffer , whose character is vulnerable and confused , but not weak . she remains a captivating actor , able to communicate more with her eyes than many performers can with their whole body . pfeiffer is particularly good in scenes where she becomes possessed by the ghost , seemlessly assuming an persona without exaggerating the change . ford starts off weakly , mumbling his way through the early scenes , but finds his stride in the latter half . it is good to see the actor return to roles with a bit of an edge to them , unlike the straight-laced , do-no-wrong heroes he has portrayed for much of the past decade in films like " patriot games " and " air force one " . ford was always at his best playing characters with something of an anti-hero bent , like han solo or " blade runner " 's deckard , and to an extent , " what lies beneath " is reminiscent of that . " what lies beneath " rides a consistent upward curve , as the supernatural events ( or are they ? ) continue and claire gets closer and closer to uncovering the secret behind the apparitions . things fall off the rails a bit when the identity of the villain ( which , i'll admit , came as a surprise to me ) is finally revealed and the film takes a plunge into " scream " -type slasher fare . rather extreme measures are taken to demonise the character ( like a reference to the villain's attention focussing next on claire's daughter ) which come across as more than a little heavy-handed . but things end well with a spooky , beautifully photographed climax which is carried out with just enough conviction to make it work . although it by no means achieves the heights of deep-rooted , psychological terror as , say , " the blair witch project " , " what lies beneath " is very successful on a more visceral level , and is certainly one of the scarier movies of recent times . it's not the sort of film that will give you nightmares -- the frights are too immediate and short-sighted for that -- but it is a lot of fun all the same . 
