Writer: Drew Goddard
Director: Matt Reeves
Producer: Bad Robot
Starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas T.J miller, Michael Stahl-David and Mike Vogel

Cloverfield is a film that built its success on an advertising campaign and narrative style similar to the Blair Witch Project. It was pre sold on the thought that curiosity over the ominous poster with a headless Statue of Liberty would be captivating enough for people to watch a film where no one knew what was to be expected. Fortunately this reviewer was familiar with the writing of Drew Goddard, a former Staff Writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer who delivered some fun episodes of said series, and with this in mind saw a free screening and left wanting to pay 10 dollars American to see the movie again.

The plot of the film is fairly simple; a “top secret film” screen with United States Department of Defense logos opens the film, indicating that the events within are something bad. After which the film goes into the plot, during a New York going away party a large explosion occurs, things get turned over and a lot of property damage occurs. This damage is so terrifying that people are trying to escape New York City. This escape becomes impossible when it is found that a big monster, and its hatchling little monsters, have gone out for a walk in the city and they are a bit hungry. The film, shot in a real time manner, chronicles four people trying to escape.

The main idea of Cloverfield is not terribly original, monsters attack a city and people are terrified, but Drew Goddard and director Matt Reeves decide to give the audience the movie equivalent of the original Orson Wells broadcast of War of the Worlds. The film shot on a digital camera lends a sense of the imposed “Real Danger” the cast has to face, and the mounting dread that things may not work out for anybody. As a ground level looking up film, Cloverfield brings a sense of terror to the monster that pays off; making the actions of the characters seem more feasible and believable.

The characters in Cloverfield bare no need for mention. The use of actors with limited exposure helps the film deliver its realism, yet in a way the whining of most of the characters can make some people want to see bad things happen to the young yuppies. The cast is not likable, but they are amusing. The Monster, which is the star, is a terrifying piece of work and the twist on how the monster spawns off is so influenced by H.P. Lovecraft that his estate should get a residual.

The genres borrowed from in Cloverfield are similar in that they use suspense to excite an audience, and overall Cloverfield succeeds by re-producing this effect and making people feel some thing. Be it terror, humor or even anger. Cloverfield delivers a genre film that takes what works from the Horror, Sci-Fi and Reality forms of storytelling and melds them together into 85 minutes of film that feels like it could really happen.

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