Libby (Ema Horvath) returns from summer camp to discover that her mother Michelle, played by American Beauty’s Mena Suvari, has taken a lover. The strangely enigmatic and plainly named John Smith is the female fantasy come to life; he’s an intellectual romantic with washboard abs and chiselled good looks. Michelle can’t believe her luck, and Libby too finds herself drawn to John’s magnetic charm. After some inappropriate exchanges, Libby begins to get suspicious about John and his intentions for her mother. Then late one night she witnesses some very odd behaviour and sets about investigating exactly who, or what, John really is. With the three of them trapped in the isolated locale of the family lake house, and Michelle completely under John’s spell, can Libby save her mother and herself before it’s too late?
In terms of star power, Mena Suvari is the big draw, yet she’s more of a background character, as Horvath is left with the brunt of the screen time. It’ll be a shame to those wanting to reacquaint themselves with the early noughties starlet, but Horvath is engaging enough to sway one’s attention. The story is built upon the relationship between mother and daughter, and there’s a strong sense of bondedness between the two actors. That being said, we lose the full effect of their relationship crumbling as we’re not given the time to see their dynamic pre-John. Without seeing it on screen, the audience has to fill in a lot of blanks, going on just a couple of casual comments that the pair were closer than Loreli and Rory Gilmor. Without this build-up, the impact of John’s insidious plan of dividing and conquering doesn’t hit home quite as well as it should.
What Lies Below is a tightly-wound story that has just enough mystery to keep the viewer engaged. There’s an effective cat and mouse interplay between Libby and John, one that sees the power balance forever shifting. This dynamic paves the way for a couple of genuinely intense exchanges. These moments however, are fleeting, the rest of the movie sticking close to genre tropes and not contributing anything particularly new. Not every film has to reinvent the wheel of course, and as a straightforward ‘sexy’ sci-fi thriller, the film works. It’s the type of film that was all the rage in the early nineties and has echoes of both Species and Sleepwalkers, told as if it were a forgotten Goosebumps story.
Signature Entertainment presents What Lies Below on Digital Platforms 22nd February.
What Lies Below
Summary
For a first-time feature film, What Lies Below has some interesting ideas, but writer and director Braden R. Duemmler’s inexperience sometimes shows. It’s a solidly structured film, but the foundations are a little shaky.
