Cloverfield (2008)

"...the skillfully made Cloverfield offers a heart-racing experience with plenty of chills, thrills and exhilaration.  Claudia Puig, USA Today
"...Reeves' breathlessly fast-paced Cloverfield is going to resonate with New York audiences in a way no other horror film has.  Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
"...a surreptitiously subversive, stylistically clever little gem...  Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"...intense and original...a pure-blood, grade A, exultantly exhilarating monster movie.  Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
"A dazzling experiment that paid off immensely, this is cinematic pleasure at its purest.  Olly Richards, Empire
"...a thoroughly intense and mostly entertaining movie.  Pete Vonder Haar, Film Threat
"...far scarier than the big-budget remakes of "Godzilla" and "King Kong," more engaging than "I Am Legend"...  Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian

Editor's Note Director Matt Reeves (THE PALLBEARER) and producer J. J. Abrams (LOST, ALIAS) turn a mysterious monster loose in Manhattan in the disaster flick CLOVERFIELD. The movie begins at a party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David), who has accepted a promotion that will send him to Japan. Hud (T. J. Miller) is entrusted with the responsibility of videotaping the party--and as the trouble grows, he holds on to the camera, recording everything that happens. In fact, the entire movie is seen through the lens of his camera, reminiscent of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. As terrified people in a post-9/11 New York City take to the streets, Rob decides to head uptown to try to save Beth (Odette Yustman), the woman he loves, though he's afraid to tell her so. Rob is joined by his brother Jason (Mike Vogel), Jason's girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas), Lily's friend Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), and Hud, who has a thing for Marlena. Rob is determined not to give up, even after almost being crushed by the Statue of Liberty's head and as the military shows up to force evacuation of the city. Reeves and first-time screenwriter Drew Goddard, who previously has written television episodes of such series as BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL, ALIAS, and LOST, focus in on the central aspect of the story: people trying to survive the monster attack. Very little else is explained, since the story is told completely through the video camera. And there is no additional score to heighten the drama; the only music is that which is picked up by Hud and the camera's microphone, including snippets of songs by Kings of Leon, Parliament Funkadelic, Of Montreal, and others. The anticipation of CLOVERFIELD's release was enhanced by a viral marketing campaign that included Web sites built around the main characters and even the fictional drink Slusho.

	Jessica Lucas
	Lizzy Caplan
	Margot Farley
	Michael Stahl-David
	Mike Vogel
	Odette Yustman
	T.J. Miller
	Theo Rossi
	Doug J. Meerdink - Art Director
	Drew Goddard - Writer
	Guy Riedel - Executive Producer
	J.J. Abrams - Producer
	Kevin Stitt - Editor
	Martin Whist - Production Designer
	Matt Reeves - Director
	Michael Bonvillain - Cinematographer

USA Today
"CLOVERFIELD is a surprisingly gripping thriller. Employing a pseudo-documentary handheld camera style, it offers a fresh spin on the monster movie genre." 01/20/2008

Los Angeles Times
"There is a visceral, pit-of-the-stomach dread to the scenes of urban destruction that rise above mere genre." 01/18/2008

Entertainment Weekly
"[A] surreptitiously subversive, stylistically clever little gem of an entertainment..." -- Grade: B 01/25/2008 p.54

Empire
5 stars out of 5 -- "CLOVERFIELD brings a new, more primal fear to the monster movie....[Made with] whip-smart invention and brilliant simplicity." 03/01/2008 p.48

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Breathless blockbuster entertainment with a bracing political payload and satire to spare." 04/01/2008 p.54

Sight and Sound
"[T]he production team's integration of handheld low-light long-take camerawork and effects is a peculiarly austere marvel....CLOVERFIELD's uncomprehending vision can be chilling..." 04/01/2008 p.51

Premiere
3 stars out of 4 -- "[A] film that delivers a clever twist on perhaps the oldest sci-fi/horror staple of all: The Giant Monster Movie." 01/17/2008

ReelViews 8 of 10
Cloverfield is to the monster movie as The Blair Witch Project was to the ghost story. This movie is going to divide audiences. There are those who will be unable to endure nearly 90 minutes of constantly moving hand-held camerawork. Some will experience motion sickness. Others will just be annoyed and disoriented by the experience. These are legitimate reactions, but Cloverfield isn't trying to present another run-of-the-mill rampaging monster movie. You can rent a bunch of those on DVD. Do we really need another one? Instead, producer J.J. Abrams and his creative team want to represent a catastrophic event from ground level. If 9/11 taught us one thing, it's that when disaster strikes, cameras are turned on. Cloverfield's gritty, in-your-face style is uncompromising. If you're looking for a nice, clean movie filmed with a steadycam, you'll have to look elsewhere...The style will anger and offend some viewers but, if you're able to accommodate the camera, the movie delivers...In some ways, Cloverfield gives the impression of having been produced on a low budget, but the special effects are first rate. The monster and the devastation it causes look real. We believe. And, ultimately, that's the reason why Cloverfield works - because this film takes you into the heart of the maelstrom and leaves you there. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Godzilla meets the Queasy-Cam in "Cloverfield," a movie that crosses the Monster Attacks Manhattan formula with "Blair Witch." No, Godzilla doesn't appear in person, but the movie's monster looks like a close relative on the evolutionary tree, especially in one closeup...The movie, which has been in a vortex of rumors for months, is actually pretty scary at times. It's most frightening right after something Very Bad begins to happen in lower Manhattan, and before we get a good look at the monster, which is scarier as a vaguely glimpsed enormity than as a big reptile...The entire film is shot in Queasy-Cam hand-held style, mostly by Hud, who couldn't hold it steady or frame a shot if his life depended on it. After the screening, I heard some fellow audience members complaining that they felt dizzy or had vertigo, but no one barfed, at least within my hearing...Mercifully, at 84 minutes the movie is even shorter than its originally alleged 90-minute running time; how much visual shakiness can we take? And yet, all in all, it is an effective film, deploying its special effects well and never breaking the illusion that it is all happening as we see it. One question, which you can answer for me after you see the film: Given the nature of the opening government announcement, how did the camera survive? - Roger Ebert