10 More Horror Movie Characters You Trusted (But Shouldn't Have)

9. Dr. Norman Spencer - What Lies Beneath

The Faculty Marybeth
DreamWorks

The jaw-dropping plot twist at the end of What Lies Beneath plays quite brilliantly off our collective fondness for Harrison Ford and the fact that he almost never plays an outright villain on-screen.

Ford stars as successful professor Dr. Norman Spencer, all while his wife Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) comes to believe that their home is being plagued by the supernatural presence of a missing woman, Madison Elizabeth Frank (Amber Valletta).

Even when it's revealed that Norman had an affair with Madison and she later died, audiences couldn't be blamed for believing Norman when he claims that she killed herself after he ended the affair, and in a panic he disposed of the body.

Ford's just that damn charming, even when he's playing a character as evidently flawed as this. But the penny eventually drops when, instead of confessing as agreed, Norman drugs Claire and attempts to drown her in the bathtub, while admitting that he murdered Madison after she threatened to tell the college's dean about their affair.

That's... a lot, and yet director Robert Zemeckis so perfectly exploited viewers' willingness to give Harrison Ford the benefit of the doubt.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.