Release Date: April 22nd, 2008
Running Time: 84 minutes

The Film

Monster movies are fantastic. There’s something so primal, so terrifying about a larger-than-life beast tearing up a city. It represents all our fears about the uncontrollable, the apocalyptic. Unfortunately most monster films are relegated to camp, B-movie levels of quality. When the immense viral marketing began for Cloverfield I was immediately intrigued. I wanted it to be good. I wanted to forget the American Godzilla. While it didn’t completely satisfy my monster movie craving, Cloverfield is still one hell of an experience.

The style of Cloverfield is what makes it unique. The film is presented as amateur footage found from the Department of Defense after a horrific incident in the area formerly known as Central Park. The entire film has the look of being shot with a handheld camcorder, but the actual production was still very professional so the shaky camera isn’t as disorienting and nauseating as The Blair Witch Project. The result is a very intimate, frightening look at one group’s experience during a night of unbelievable horror.

The film stars Michael Stahl-David as Rob Hawkins. He is moving to Japan for a job and his friends throw him a surprise going away party in a Manhattan apartment. His brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend, Lily (Jessica Lucas), thought it would be cool to film messages from everyone at the party, like at a wedding. Rob’s best friend Hudson (T.J. Miller) is tasked with recording these goodbyes but seems more interesting in filming his crush, Marlena (Lizzy Caplan). The last character in the mix is Beth (Odette Yustman), a longtime friend of Rob’s who he finally had a romantic experience with a few weeks earlier, only to not call her again. She shows up with another guy and throws Rob into a depression. Typical post-college party drama. After exchanging harsh words, Beth leaves—and then the building shakes.

Everyone runs to the roof to check it out and they see explosions from downtown. Chaos ensues. Rob, Hud, Jason, Marlena, and Lily stick together and escape the apartment building, only to see the head from the statue of liberty thrown down the road. They catch glimpses of a monster ravaging downtown! After failing to escape Manhattan on one of the bridges, Cloverfield shifts gears. Rob gets a call on his phone from Beth, she’s trapped in her apartment building, bleeding. Her apartment building just happens to be in the proximity of the giant unknown beastie! Rob won’t leave without her, so the group defies all reasonable thinking and heads into the belly of the beast, pun intended.

The first time I saw Cloverfield I spent the majority of my efforts trying to get every bit of detail I could about the monster. You see a leg here, teeth there. Hideous parasites fall off it and go on a killing spree. There are a few good shots of the monster by the end of the film, but going into it I had no idea if I would see anything at all. This really hurt my enjoyment of the film. Trust me when I say by the time it is all over you will get a good look at the monster. I actually enjoyed the film far more upon a second viewing, and noticed more detail than when I was actively searching for it.

Cloverfield is a thrilling experience, just know what you are getting in to. It won’t treat your monster craving like The Host, but it is very entertaining in its own right. The acting is well done, the camerawork is impressive, and the brisk pace maintains the intensity throughout. It may not be the groundbreaking, mind-blowing film that the viral marketing would suggest, but I certainly haven’t seen anything like it before, and that’s always a good thing.

The DVD

The film is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Despite the intentional level of grain, the transfer still shows a lot of detail. The black levels are excellent and digital artifacts are almost nonexistent. For being “amateur” footage, it all looks very professional.

The audio is offered in English/French/Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound with English/French/Spanish subtitles. You may not always see the monster, but you certainly hear it. The destruction of the city blasts from all of the channels, putting you in the middle of the chaos. The mix is very well done, featuring deep, low bass rumbles and tons of positional audio. Dialogue is balanced for the most part but can get muffled during the more chaotic scenes, but this may be a stylistic choice.

The Extras

Commentary is offered with Director Matt Reeves. He is very honest and offers a lot of information about the production. Like the film, the commentary is fast paced and rarely has blocks of silence.

“Document 1.18.08” is a 29-minute making-of featurette on the production. Interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of the filming give you a good look at how the film was put together. The featurette has its EPK moments, but is still worth a watch.

“Cloverfield Visual Effects” is a 22-minute featurette that covers the CGI effects as well as the monster design. There was actually far more CGI work done than I thought, a testament to the quality of the effects.

“I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge!” runs 6 minutes and covers the evolution of the monster–a must-watch for anyone who still wants to see more of the beast.

“Clover Fun” is a 4-minute outtake reel of the usual messed up lines and goofs.

4 Deleted Scenes are offered with optional commentary, all of which would have dragged the film. 2 Alternate Endings are offered, but like most highly advertised special features, the changes are minimal and won’t shine any new light on the story.

Lastly, Previews are offered.

Final Thoughts

Cloverfield is a very successful Blair Witch monster-movie hybrid. I enjoyed every second; I just don’t want to see a trend born out of it. The handheld gimmick works once every so often, let’s hope Hollywood doesn’t overdo it.