We don’t love remakes. For every decent one like Scarface (Al Pacino) or The Thing (Kurt Russell) there is The Crow (Bill Skarsgård) or The Running Man (Glen Powell). But Hollywood loves them and every week there is a rumor or news on the latest one in production. Most are completely unnecessary, but if they are going to continue to get made, let’s have some fun coming up with remakes that might at least be watchable.
Currently in New England we are dealing with some crazy weather so I decided to watch something for my own enjoyment and not because I had to write a review for it. I’ve owned What Lies Beneath on DVD for years, but haven’t seen the movie in probably 20 years. It’s been so long since I’ve watched it that I didn’t remember it took place in New England (Vermont). I may have also forgotten it was a Robert Zemeckis film. I remembered it starred Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford and that the screenplay came from Clark Gregg (yes the MCU’s Agent Coulson), but besides those things, I really didn’t remember much about the story or the ending so it almost felt like watching it for the first time.
If you aren’t familiar with the movie Harrison Ford plays Norman and Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire and they seem to be the idyllic couple. He’s a scientist/professor. She’s a former musician. The daughter leaves for college while they are renovating his dead father’s home in Vermont. Claire was in a major car accident a year ago, but on paper their marriage looks great and they seem happy. They have some new neighbors and Claire thinks there’s something up with them in a Rear Window type situation. Soon her paranoia turns inward and she thinks their house has a ghost. As doors start opening and a picture frame falls, Claire and Norman clash over what is happening. Their perfect marriage has some major skeletons in its closet including the disappearance of a young woman with ties to Norman.
While watching it, what really stood out to me is that we don’t get these types of movies too often anymore especially with characters in the 40+ age range. We live in an age of social media and technology, but we also live in an age where people still work, date, travel, live, love and screw well beyond their 50s and 60s. Yet we don’t get too many realistic thrillers nowadays for GenX or older. Heck there are Millennials in their 40s now and they certainly grew up watching films taking hard lefts or had you wondering what’s in the box. Thrillers, specifically psychological ones, should be pumped out nonstop in Hollywood for the audience that grew up on them. Gone Girl came out over a decade ago and was a hit. Shutter Island came out over 15 years ago and was a hit. Heck, What Lies Beneath was a box office smash in 2000. All of those films featured characters at least in their 30s yet we don’t consistently get movies about adults at realistic ages. Is that the issue, despite actors and actresses today looking half their age, Hollywood doesn’t want to make films about people in their 40s/50s or older? Despite Tom Cruise being over 60 and still jumping off buildings, despite Paul Rudd being late 50s and not aging for 30 years, despite Jennifer Lopez being 57, we don’t get movies with lead characters in that range.
Then a recent movie hit me, Paul Feig’s The Housemaid had a psychological vibe to it and was a box office hit although its characters skew a bit younger. Sydney Sweeney is in her 20s playing a character in her 20s, but the couple she moves in with are probably late Millennials. Brandon Sklenar and Amanda Seyfried are definitely playing characters in their 30s at least. You can’t argue that that movie didn’t make bank at the box office. It also reminded me of Feig’s film A Simple Favor which has a similar tone although again, its characters were younger. If What Lies Beneath was going to be remade today, Paul Feig would be the one to do it. Plus he shot The Heat and Ghostbusters in Massachusetts so he’s already used to dealing with New England locations as well.
As previously stated, The Housemaid stars Amanda Seyfried and it turns out she’s not that far apart in age from when Michelle Pfeiffer played Claire. Seyfried can very easily portray that classic, beautiful wife Pfeiffer pulled off because she kind of already did it in The Housemaid which also features a huge surprise twist. I know she can sing, but I don’t know if she can play an instrument like Pfeiffer did, but you could just make her a singer instead of a musician. I don’t know if she’s ready to play the mother of a college aged child, but Seyfried is currently 40 and Pfeiffer was 42 when this was released.
Then there’s Harrison Ford’s Norman. Ford was probably a lot older in real life than what he was portraying, but what stands out in his performance is how against type it is for him. Ford is Han Solo. Ford is Indiana Jones. Ford has played the president and despite being called The Fugitive, he did not kill his wife. In What Lies Beneath (spoiler), he’s the bad guy. He has an affair and kills the girl. I’m sure he’s probably played other villain roles, but I can’t think of any. That got me thinking about who in today’s Hollywood is seen as the most lovable guy. Who’s more upbeat and positive than Ted Lasso? No one. That’s why I’d love to see Jason Sudeikis in a darker role. Sudeikis could very easily play a scientist/professor type with a beautiful wife at home, but audiences would be shocked to see Ted Lasso filling up a tub to drown his wife.
Being a Bob Zemeckis film, What Lies Beneath feels like the era of its time. The house has a computer with the internet on it and Claire does some digging into the disappearance of the girl via the internet. You would very easily update that today with Claire looking at social media posts and photos, maybe seeing one of the girl with her husband at a school event or something of that nature. Instead of visiting the girl’s bedroom she sees a picture on Instagram of the necklace that plays a major role in the film. Caroline Kepnes’ Joe Goldberg has taught us all how easy it is to find out information about our neighbors, friends and co-workers via social media so stalking someone’s socials is the way to find out if your husband’s cheating or if your neighbor killed his wife.
The supernatural/psychological aspect of What Lies Beneath very easily transitions into the current world because the characters really are grounded despite the paranormal elements. It’s a believable couple. Professors have affairs with students. It all spirals out of control because of stupid decisions people make. Nowadays cell phone photos would be used to blackmail the husband in this situation so him losing it and killing her would be very understandable. He’d drown her and chuck the phone into the water hoping the evidence would never see the light of day. The film is 26 years old already, but it still holds up well and wouldn’t take much to update for a modern day remake. People will argue that no one goes to the theater anymore especially the over 40 crowd so why make a movie for them. Today’s theater is packed with sequels, comic book movies and established IPs. I get it, but maybe the over 40 crowd doesn’t go because you don’t make movies for them. The Housemaid did $400 million worldwide. It Ends With Us did $350 million worldwide. Maybe if you make a smart movie that doesn’t pander to the lowest common denominator people will show up. Give people a good movie that has them talking and they’ll show up.
