The score worked very well in the movie, and the CD is nice, too. The Psycho hommage shows up a couple of times, but from the way it was introduced in the film, it really seems to be a hommage to me. This score is still the ONLY score that has two or three "shock effects" that make me jump everytime I play it (and my cat, too )

very creepy film, and a good score by Silvestri who "channels" Bernard Herrmann very nicely.

I get sick of the plotless shock films very fast.

quote:

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Originally posted by Jeron:
Zemeckis is, without a doubt, probably my favorite director.

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I also live in the countryside, kind of.

I saw the film in the theater with my girlfriend when it first came out, I did not want to see it, but she did, and we had to be gone for a few hours since the car was being worked on so we saw it. We both hated it. She liked the simple shocks like any other film of its kind, but we both agreed that it was completely lame. I also find ghost stories to be the scariest form of anything out there. Yet WLB was not even a scary ghost story. I knew the ghost was not hostile, the world knew. The ghost was a joke! 6th, was not scary at all. What is scary, a jump? Or a thought that creeps into your mind and will not let you go? 6th and WLB are neither mental nor physical masterpieces, but rather mainstream SHOCK films that make for silly fun, although I tend to hate them now.

WLB was an obvious film. What is scary about it when you know something is going to happen? With obvious plot, and obvious everything, WLB is not truly a psycho thriller, rather a dull simple yet another addition to the every few month shock films that hollywood spits out.

A good ghost story, one in a normal home. Not a rich house where there seems to be stupid ties between the ghost and the people, but when in a simple home. Poltergiest is a great example. I do not find those films scary...but THEY COULD BE. I guess I will have to make the ultimate ghost story and put all of this crap to shame in the future. I am just sick of films like WLB. Nothing new, everything old. What's new? Nothing.

(How's that for a warning! )

I liked Silvestri's score overall, but then the PSYCHOesque music appears towards the end... a nice homage, though one I would have preferred handled with more subtlety, or at least with less bombast.

As for the film, I couldn't help feeling disappointed, for two reasons: the trailer, and the finale. The trailer revealed so much that practically any drama, any suspense, was made void by my already knowing much of what would take place. I felt the same way with CAST AWAY, and it's unfortunate that Zemekis seems in favor of "revelation trailers." It ruins the cinematic experience for me. From now on, I'll know better: whenever a trailer for the next Zemekis film comes on, I'll just leave.

The finale disappointed me because it resorted to near slasher film theatrics, a direction I felt inconsistent with the film's throwback tendencies . So much quiet, elegant restraint is present throughout WHAT LIES BENEATH (film and score), that when Ford shakes off his half-a-dozen concussions and takes off on a rampage, I felt betrayed. It didn't feel consistent with the tone of the film; it felt forced, gimmicky, and completely overdone.

That's why I didn't care for Silvestri's PSYCHO homage, which because of the unfortunate detour the film takes, becomes a gimmick itself, with neither coming together in a satisfying and effective way. If only the trailer and finale were handled differently...

I still didn't think it was that great, though - entertaining enough, but nothing special and, to my mind, overlong. I can't remember much of Alan Silvestri's score, but I'll probably pick the CD up sometime.