Found Footage Horrors/Franchises: Cloverfield. Cloverfield (2008)

Like just about everyone else, Cloverfield sure caught my attention when I first learned of it. That said, I didn't see the infamously ambiguous teaser trailer before Transformers, the more detailed one before Beowulf (mainly because I was never interested in seeing those movies), or even the actual trailer, but I can pinpoint the exact moment I realized it was a thing: New Year's Eve, 2007. My mom and I went to see the movie, The Water Horse (an enjoyable family fantasy movie, by the way) and, while I was in the lobby, waiting for her to get our popcorn and drinks, I saw this big cardboard display of that image of the Statue of Liberty with its head seemingly bitten off in the foreground, and New York in ruins in the back. Again, that had my attention immediately, and throughout January, I started to see TV spots, which only hinted at what it could be. What I did know was that there was a ton of hype around it, that J.J. Abrams was involved (I thought he actually directed it for the longest time), and, like me, there were numerous people wondering just what it was about, with entire message boards and websites dedicated to solving this mystery. The speculation ranged from it being an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft stories or a film adaptation of the anime Voltron (due to someone mishearing the line, "It's alive," as, "It's a lion,"), to a new Godzilla movie (which, as you should know, would've really excited me had I read such speculation). I eventually learned it was a "found footage" sci-fi/horror movie in the style of The Blair Witch Project (which weren't as commonplace at that time) and that it was indeed a monster movie, mainly from a TV spot that briefly showed the monster, as well as just from people talking about it. Naturally, being a huge fan of Godzilla and giant monster and kaiju movies in general, I knew I had to see this movie. I got it on DVD for Christmas in 2008 and, ignoring the mixed opinions that were prevalent at the time, sat down and watched it soon afterward. And I'll say right now that I freaking love this movie. I don't care what anyone says, this is both an awesome monster flick and one of the best found footage movies, in my humble opinion.

Taken from a camcorder recovered by the U.S. Department of Defense, the film starts off with mundane footage, taken on April 27th, 2008, of college student Rob Hawkins fooling around with his girlfriend, Beth McIntyre, in her father's apartment, before they go off to Coney Island for the day. It then switches to May 22nd, as Rob's brother, Jason, and his girlfriend, Lily, plan a surprise going away party for Rob, who's moving to Japan to take a job as a company vice-president. The night of the party, Jason tasks Rob's best friend, Hud, with documenting testimonials from the partygoers. When Rob arrives, he's ecstatic, but the mood soon turns sour when Beth shows up with another guy. Hud and Jason eventually learn from Lily that Rob and Beth broke up shortly after the day they spent at Coney Island, as well as that they had made love the night before and Rob never called her afterward. Later on, after Beth and her date leave following a heated argument she has with Rob, Jason and Hud try to advise him on what to do, when the building is suddenly rocked by an enormous boom and tremor. The news reports that an oil tanker has capsized near the Statue of Liberty, and the partygoers head to the building's roof to try to get a look at it, only to see a massive explosion in the distance. Running down to the street, which is in complete chaos, they witness the statue's head getting flung across the skyline, while Hud catches a glimpse of an enormous creature, which levels a building. Along with hundreds of others, the group of Rob, Hud, Lily, Jason, and another girl, Marlena, attempt to escape by crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, only for the creature's tail to destroy the bridge, killing Jason. Retreating back into the panic-stricken city, they realize it's under siege from the monster, along with smaller, parasitic creatures detaching from its body. As the military attempts to evacuate everybody and destroy the monsters, Rob, upon receiving a message from Beth, who's trapped in her apartment in Midtown, heads into the war-zone, along with his friends, to save her.

Though he didn't direct the movie as I originally thought, I'd still be remiss if I didn't mention J.J. Abrams, since Cloverfield was very much his brainchild. As such, I like that his inspiration was Godzilla's continuing popularity in Japan, but I find it strange how surprised he was by it, given how Godzilla is, without a doubt, their most beloved cultural icon. Moreover, he thought to himself, "I wish that we had a monster like that," with "we" meaning America, and I thought, "What about King Kong?" And Abrams said in another interview, "And not like King Kong. I love King Kong. King Kong is adorable. And Godzilla is a charming monster. We love Godzilla, but I wanted something that was just insane and intense." I still don't quite get what he means, seeing as how Kong is just as tied to America's cultural identity as Godzilla is to Japan's, but whatever. In any case, Abrams is somebody who I'm fairly indifferent about in terms of his overall work. I never watched any of his television shows, like Felicity, Alias, Fringe, or Lost (although my mom did watch the latter), and I'm not interested in either Mission: Impossible or Star Trek, so I've never seen any of those movies he was involved, with either. I did thoroughly enjoy Super 8 (which, interestingly, was rumored to be a sequel to Cloverfield in the months leading up to its release), but when it comes to both of the Star Wars movies he directed, I loved The Force Awakens in the theater but, at this point, I've only re-watched it once, and The Rise of Skywalker just makes me shrug. And finally, the direction he decided to take the Cloverfield franchise is baffling, to say the least, but we'll get into that whenever we talk about those other movies.

Cloverfield was actually directed by Matt Reeves, who'd worked with Abrams before, having co-created Felicity with him, as well as directing some episodes of it and other shows like Relativity, Homicide: Life on the Street, Gideon's Crossing, and Miracles, and writing films such as Under Siege 2: Dark Territory and The Yards. I initially thought Cloverfield was possibly his first feature as director, but he'd already directed a segment of the 1994 horror anthology, Future Shock, and the 1996 rom-com, The Pallbearer, with Gwyneth Paltrow and David Schwimmer. Following Cloverfield, Reeves directed Let Me In, the Americanized version of the critically acclaimed Swedish vampire film, Let the Right One In, which I thought was okay but not as good as the original, which I don't absolutely love, anyway. But as big of a hit as Cloverfield was, he really hit the big time when he directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes, both of which I thought were spectacular, and the same goes for The Batman, which made me feel so bad for doubting Robert Pattinson's potential as the Dark Knight.

Before we really begin, I want to comment on how risky this movie's marketing and release was. First off, you have an initial trailer with no title, just the release date, and then, when the title is revealed, it's nothing short of perplexing and vague. Speaking of which, the way it came about was just as bizarre as the name itself. According to Reeves, Cloverfield, which is derived from an exit leading to the main offices of J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Studios, is meant as the government's official designation for the movie's events, which you can see in the disclaimer that opens the film. It changed throughout production because it got too popular to keep under wraps but, in the end, since it was already so well known as Cloverfield due to the hype generated by the trailers, they decided to just go with it. In any case, not only was there all this secrecy but they decided to release it in January, a notoriously dead month for movies. While this had the potential to be a massive hit like The Blair Witch Project, which it was, it could've also backfired like Snakes on a Plane, which also had a viral campaign, as well as the added star power of Samuel L. Jackson, but basically bombed (personally, I think that's a fun creature feature).

Much like the three main actors in The Blair Witch Project, the cast of Cloverfield had no idea what they were signing on for when they auditioned for it, as scenes from other J.J. Abrams productions were used to keep the film's nature and story a secret. Also, while it's on a much bigger scale, it is similar in that the core group of characters is a small handful of people. And like a lot of giant monster and kaiju movies, the characters don't have a lot to them but work well for what they have to do. Our ostensible lead of this ensemble is Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David), who decides to leave for Japan just one day too late. The main crux of his character is that he and Beth McIntyre, whom he's known for a while, had a one-night stand, followed by a date to Coney Island, and then, he completely ghosted her. When Beth shows up at his going-away party with her new boyfriend, Travis, Rob is not at all happy, and the two of them argue about it. And when she and Travis leave afterward, Rob spitefully says, "Good luck tonight, Travis," hurting Beth's feelings even more. Later, when his brother, Jason, and best friend, Hud, confront him, Rob says that what happened was completely spontaneous and he didn't call her afterward because he didn't want to get closer since he's leaving soon. But even though what he did was really crappy, and Jason says he's, "Kind of a douchebag," Rob never once comes off as completely unlikable, but rather as a decent but confused guy. 

You really feel for Rob when Jason is killed on the Brooklyn Bridge, as you see him in total shock, not comprehending what Hud is saying to him, immediately afterward. And when he gets a call and message from Beth on his cellphone, learning she's stuck and can't move at her apartment, it spurs him to head into Midtown Manhattan and save her, even though he will most likely die in the process. He tries to convince Hud, Lily, and Marlena to evacuate with everyone else, but they end up following him, though for individual

reasons among them. When they get caught up in a battle between the military and the monster and are forced to take refuge down in the subway, Rob, still going on adrenaline, is desperate to continue on after Beth, but Hud and the others make him realize they have to wait a bit, first. You can see that it's killing him, and he has an angry, frustrated outburst. What's more, he then gets a call from his mother and, in order to not worry her, tells her that they're being evacuated. He also has to break it to 

her that his brother's dead, and Michael Stahl-David really manages to sell this moment of pain and anguish, especially given how we only see it from Rob's end and he's a good distance away from the camera, so his voice is a bit muffled. Once that moment passes, he gets the idea to walk the subway tunnels, which leads to their being attacked by the parasites that detach from the monster, and then taken to a military command center. Despite learning how dire things are, and that the military is planning on leveling all of Manhattan to destroy the monster, Rob is still determined to save Beth. But while he does, it doesn't seem like they survive the bombing.

Hud (T.J. Miller), Rob's best friend, is tasked by Jason to document testimonials for Rob with the camcorder, leading to him carrying it throughout the film and recording the situation as it unfolds. Coming off as a stoner type guy (when Jason first approaches him with the camera, he looks and sounds kind of like he's been smoking weed), Hud is kind of the typical goofy best friend, and initially isn't too thrilled with the responsibility that Jason foists onto him. But as the party goes on, he gets into it, although he's more interested in trying to hit on Marlena and getting the scoop on what's going on with Rob and Beth than recording testimonials. When he learns Rob and Beth slept together, he stupidly starts telling everybody, even though Lilly told him not to. He also kept the camera on while she told him and Jason, despite claiming it was off. But as stupid and insensitive as all that was, Hud, like Rob, is still someone you can't help but like. He sincerely tries to help Jason in talking some sense into Rob about what happened, and when everything starts going crazy and they're caught up in the chaos, Hud tries to be the voice of reason, saying they need to get out of town with everyone else. He can be a little overzealous and even annoying about it, but you can tell he means well, but is just panicked. He also does what he can to console Rob about Jason's death, but after Rob has gotten off the phone with his mother, Hud admits he has no idea what to do for him and just watches from a distance, as Lily comforts him. Like everyone else, he tries to talk Rob out of going into the heart of the city but, when Rob proves determined, he decides to go with him. 

Hud is a genuinely funny guy, providing much of the movie's comic relief, even when the others don't find it that funny. When they're walking in the subway tunnels, he starts rambling and says the worst possible thing at that moment: "Hey, do you guys remember a couple of years ago when that guy was lighting homeless people on fire in the subways?" Everyone calls him on it, only for him to say, "Right. I just can't stop thinking how scary it would be if a flaming homeless guy came running out of the dark right now," irking them even more. Later, when they see the state of Beth's apartment building, Hud and Rob have this exchange: "Tell me that's not her place." "That's her place, yeah." "Oh, shit. I don't suppose she lives on the ground floor." "No, 39th." "Oh, great." Noting that her building is leaning against another one, Hud suggests they go up the other building and find a way onto Beth's roof. He then immediately says it was a bad idea, but Rob and Lily decide to go ahead with it, as he grumbles that no one listens to him until he comes up with an awful idea. During the climb up the stairs, Hud, as he did earlier, tries to come up with a possible explanation for the monster, and when Rob asks if it matters by this point, he exclaims, "Yeah! It matters because I need to talk about something. Otherwise, I'm actually probably going to shit my pants in this stairwell!" When they save Beth and she sees the monster for the first time, she yells, "What is that?!", and Hud just answers, "It's a terrible thing." Then, as they're escaping, they're attacked by one of the parasites, and when she asks, "What the hell was that?", Hud says, "I don't know. Something else. Also terrible." Unfortunately, while Rob and Beth's are uncertain at best, Hud definitely dies near the end, which was a total bummer for me.

Lily (Jessica Lucas), Jason's girlfriend, at first comes across as kind of a ball-breaker in how she orders him around and is obsessed with Rob's going-away party being perfect, but as the movie goes on, she becomes more likable. She tries to keep Hud from intruding on Rob and Beth's private spat, and eventually tells him and Jason but only when she's pressured, and declines to say it on camera (unaware that Hud is still recording). Following Rob and Beth's nasty parting, Lily encourages Jason and Hud to go talk to Rob. Despite their arguing, and even though he was kind of a dipstick, she clearly loves Jason and, like everyone else, is devastated when he's killed. Significantly, she's the first one to volunteer to accompany Rob when he decides to go save Beth, while Hud and Marlena end up along for the ride when they follow, trying to talk them out of it. More than anything, Lily proves to be something of a motherly figure, as you see her comforting Marlena after she first got caught up in the craziness, and later Rob after he's had that heartbreaking phone call with his mother. Following Marlena's death, both she and Hud comfort each other, but despite how shaken they are, as well as knowing that they're running out of time, they both still agree to go with Rob to Beth's apartment. Ultimately, Lily is the one protagonist who definitely manages to get away, as she's evacuated separately from Rob, Beth, and Hud. 

Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), is the outsider of the group, as she's friends with Lily and only comes to the party to see her, since she doesn't really know Rob. Hud has a crush on her but Marlena, being rather sarcastic and standoffish, is clearly annoyed by him, as he persists in filming a testimonial from her. She seems even more annoyed when she learns he's not a professional videographer, and is clearly irked when Hud feels the need to tell her about Rob and Beth's fling, despite her, again, barely knowing them. Following the monster's initial attack, with the Statue of Liberty being beheaded and a building getting demolished, and, ironically, Marlena shows up, extremely traumatized, as she claims to have gotten a good look at the monster and said it was eating people. Like Hud, she tries to be the voice of reason when Rob goes after Beth, but she's a little more harsh about it, as she comes close to suggesting Beth is likely dead, before Rob shuts her down. For that and the way she still seems annoyed by Hud, even when he's trying to be nice, I used to not really like Marlena. However, I've lightened up on her since then, as I admit that Hud, as much as I like him, can be annoying with his yammering. Also, there are moments where I initially thought she was being standoffish, like during a quiet moment between her and Hud in the subway, but I now don't think that's the case; she's more just shell-shocked and contemplative. Later, after she saves Hud's life when they're attacked by the parasites, he thanks her for coming back for him, and she says, "What, do you think I'm the kind of person who wouldn't do that?" For a while, I thought she was being bitchy, and I also didn't like it when, after Hud says, "If you hadn't, I would have been dead", she, while chuckling, says, "Yeah." Now, I realize I made a big deal about it and that the two of them were sharing a laugh to break the tension. (It makes a difference when you have the movie playing while writing, which I didn't back when I first wrote this.) After being bitten by one of the parasites, Marlena grows increasingly ill and suffers a partially obscured but grisly death.

For about 85 to 90% of the movie, Beth (Odette Yustman) is little more than a living MacGuffin, but in the bits we see of the day she and Rob spent together, she comes across as a sweet, playful, lovely young woman, and you can understand why Rob fell for her. Thus, you also feel bad when you see how hurt she is by him blowing her off afterward. She reluctantly gives a testimonial, saying that she's happy for Rob and is going to miss him, but you can see the hurt just under the surface. Ultimately, you understand why Rob

would risk life and limb to save her, but by the end of the movie, the two of them are trapped in Central Park, as the military begins bombing the city. They confess their love for each other just as it begins and, while it's not made totally clear, it's a safe bet that they did. I also want to briefly mention Beth's new boyfriend, Travis (Ben Feldman), mainly because, in retrospect, I recognize Feldman from the 2009 Friday the 13th's opening. In his short screentime, Travis comes across as a nice enough guy, if a tad awkward, and completely oblivious to the drama going on between Beth and Rob. He's clearly perplexed when she suddenly says they need to go, and has no reaction to Rob's comment as they walk out the door. You never find out what happened to him afterward, as he's nowhere to be found at Beth's apartment and she doesn't mention him.

Speaking of Platinum Dunes horror remakes, for a while, the only actor I recognized was Mike Vogel, who was in the 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He plays Rob's brother, Jason, who's a bit more sarcastic and free-spirited than Rob. Not thrilled with Lily tasking him with videotaping testimonials at the party, as he's not entirely sure how to work the camera, which is Rob's, he forces it on Hud and immediately makes him record his own. When Hud tells him there's something going on between Rob and Beth, they both make Lily spill the beans. However, unbeknownst to Jason, Hud continues recording, and he's really annoyed when he learns he told everyone at the party. After Lily makes them talk with Rob, Jason tells Hud to keep quiet and let him do the talking (which Hud, of course, can't), and gives Rob some tough love, telling him, "You're not good enough for her. That's it. That's fact. That's science. Beth McIntyre is like from a whole 'nother planet, man. She's beautiful, she's charming. And you, I love you, but let's face it, you're kind of a douchebag. And goin' to Japan is not goin' to fix that. She's crazy about you, bro... It's about moments, man. That's all that matters. You gotta learn to say, 'Forget the world, and hang on to the people that you care about the most.'" Right then is when the city is rocked by a massive boom and everything changes. Following the first instances of destruction and their glimpse of the monster, Jason suggests they get out of Manhattan by crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. This ends up getting him and bunch of other people killed when the monster destroys the section of it he's standing on.

Most found footage movies are typically very low-key, isolated stories, comprising of a very small cast of characters and taking place in one, maybe two, nondescript locations. Cloverfield, on the other hand, is set entirely in New York City and, while the main cast is fairly small, during the early parts of the movie, there are often hundreds of people onscreen, running amid the chaos. Its budget, in the neighborhood of $25 to $30 million, may be fairly small for a big-scale monster movie,

but the filmmakers manage to make every penny count. It really looks as if all of these enormous scenes and setpieces, with people fleeing in terror, buildings crumbling, the military battling the monster, and the monster wreaking havoc, are taking place in the heart of Manhattan, but in reality, only the brief moments at Coney Island and miscellaneous moments in the city were actually shot in New York. Otherwise, the movie was shot mostly at Paramount Studios, Warner Bros.

Burbank Studios, and miscellaneous locations in California, like San Pedro and Arcadia. However, when you combine the scale of the story with awesome visual effects and this type of POV camera style, it feels frighteningly authentic. Speaking of which, the movie is very well shot, and on two different types of camcorders, no less: one for the interiors and another for the exteriors. I never would've known that unless I looked it up, and the footage is well put together in the editing, with jump-cuts that come off as natural rather than

abrupt, and you never feel like you're missing anything vital. Because the footage we're watching is being recorded over the tape of Rob and Beth's date to Coney Island, fragments of that footage sometimes pop up throughout, often making for an effective contrast between the nice day the two of them had a month before and the nightmare everyone is experiencing now. As for the camerawork, while it is shaky and chaotic, as per usual for this subgenre, and the camera is often tilted over or gets dropped, it's never to the point

where the action is incomprehensible (unlike Quantum of Solace, which came out the same year). The camcorder footage also allows you to see just enough of the monster when it's onscreen to get a sense of its scale and power, without it overstaying its welcome. But where it's most effective and scary is in the sequence in the subway tunnels, where they have to use the night vision and realize they're being stalked by the parasites.

For me, what makes Cloverfield such an effective film is how, more than any other giant monster movie that's ever been made, it puts you in the shoes of those experiencing this event. We've all seen these types of movies, whether they be the American-made ones that were prevalent in the 50's and early 60's or Japanese kaiju flicks, and most of us, myself included, are excited and thrilled when watching enormous creatures tear apart big cities and send throngs of terrified

citizens running for their lives. But this shows us how it would feel to actually be in that situation, where you're going about your everyday routine and then, without warning, everything you know is being destroyed around you and you're forced to evacuate and leave it all behind. It's especially frightening in how sudden it happens. In most monster movies, we know of the threat that's coming, even if the civilians don't. But for about the first twenty minutes of Cloverfield, we're

seeing some pretty mundane footage, with typical drama between people, especially young people, and it could make you forget that you're watching a monster movie. And then, BOOM! Manhattan is rocked by a massive tremor that knocks the lights out for a few seconds, everyone is immediately freaked out and wondering what's going on, and next thing they know, their city is under siege and people are dying all around them. Moreover, while most of us know what it's liked to have our lives upended by a natural disaster, like an earthquake, a

tornado, or a hurricane, this movie gets across how terrifying it would be to know it's a gigantic living creature that nobody knew existed until just now. And that's something else it taps into: the fear of the unknown. In just about every giant monster movie, you eventually learn what the monster is and where it came from, usually from the findings of scientists, which is then shared with the military and, in turn, the public. Save for an easy to miss clue at the very end, you learn nothing about this monster. Hud throws out a bunch of typical sci-fi

speculations, like it being some undiscovered creature that was living at the bottom of the ocean, a military experiment gone awry, or an alien, but we never get an answer. Even the military doesn't seem to know what it is, or at least the one sympathetic soldier doesn't. All we do learn is that it mops the floor with the military when they battle it, to the point where they decided to level Manhattan to try to destroy it (and that doesn't seem to work, either).

Whether or not it was intentional on the filmmakers' part, the biggest way in which Godzilla, specifically the 1954 original, influenced Cloverfield is how both movies use their monsters to evoke imagery and thoughts of a recent national tragedy. It doesn't take a genius to realize this film is evoking the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the chaos and panic that fills the streets, and especially in the moment early on where a building is destroyed, everyone has to take cover when an enormous 

cloud of dust and debris barrels down the street at them, and when they go back out afterward, the place looks like the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. Also, after the first jolt, and as the characters head up to their building's rooftop to see if they can get a view of what's going on, you can hear people wondering if it's another terrorist attack. But more than anything else, the situation unfolds the way 9/11 did. First, there's the suddenness of the tremor that hits New York,

followed by the confusion and terror, as everyone wonders what just happened, and rumors begin to fly. Everyone goes to the news, who initially don't know any more than they do; all they do know is that an oil tanker has capsized near Liberty Island as a result of the massive shock. It's similar to how, after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, there was speculation in the news about whether the explosion happened from within and then, when it became clear that a plane had crashed into the building, everyone wondered why it happened.

Also, just like how the second plane all but confirmed that it was a deliberate attack, the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge, followed by the monster coming ashore and entering the city, alerts everyone to the truth of the situation. Even the headlines you see on the news, such as "NEW YORK UNDER ATTACK," evoke memories of the news coverage of that horrible day. And just like how there were countless people filming as the situation unfolded, with some initially filming something mundane before things took a turn, it's highly unlikely that Hud is the only person carrying around a video camera.

The feeling of terror that grips New York in the film is most definitely comparable to that which gripped both the city and the entire country on 9/11. I'm not just talking about the panic and horror of the actual event, but also that feeling that nowhere was safe, not even very familiar places you frequent or your own homes, as you didn't know what else was coming or if something was going to happen near where you lived. As the terror spreads here, the entire city becomes a potential

deathtrap, be it the streets, rooftops, the subway tunnels, the bridges, and so on, due to both the monster's ongoing rampage and the infestation of its parasites. Following their first encounter with the latter, Hud himself lays it out: "So, our options are, die here, die in the tunnels, or die in the streets." Even places like big department stores and people's apartments are turned either dangerous or, in the case of the former, alien and frightening, as one is turned into a military command center, full

of injured soldiers, dead parasites, high-ranking officers who refuse to help save Beth, and it's where Marlena is dragged away when it's discovered she's been bitten and dies a grisly death. In fact, even if they are, technically, there to help, the very sight of military vehicles roving the streets, ordering mandatory evacuations, and firing upon the monster when they run into it, is terrifying in and of itself because of that sheer violation of normalcy. Going back to that notion of one's home no longer being safe, nowhere is that

clearer than what happens to Beth's apartment, with her building being tipped over and leaning against another one, her being pinned there by exposed rebar, and even when Rob, Lily, and Hud manage to save her, they still have to fight off the parasites and get out as the monster approaches.

Although Cloverfield was praised for its allusions to 9/11, it was also criticized for them, calling it "tacky," "cheap," and, "opportunistic." What's more, the movie has sometimes been accused of doing little else meaningful with the metaphors aside from simply evoking said imagery, and doesn't have much to say about the tragedy itself and its lasting impact on the nation. I can't argue with that latter sentiment, but I think the way in which it uses the monster's sudden appearance and

attack to evoke both the imagery and the fear of that day is more than enough. In fact, while the movies aren't connected, you could view Gareth Edwards' Monsters as something of a companion piece that further explores the themes intrinsic in Cloverfield. Edwards himself even said that, if Cloverfield was 9/11, his movie was the War on Terror, about life after a devastating event such as that changes the world. As for the notion that the movie was insensitive and exploitive, I can understand how those who lived through 9/11 and

the relatives of those who died probably wouldn't want to watch it, but I don't know if I would call it exploitive (although, that shot of Beth's apartment building leaning against another one is borderline). The way I look at it is 9/11 showed us how something like this actually would unfold and what the destruction would really look like, so the filmmakers felt like they had to adapt accordingly. Also, remember that, in 1954, the original Godzilla was accused of exploiting a national tragedy that was still fresh in people's minds.

Ironically, the very subject of all the speculation in the lead-up to the movie's release, the monster, is in the background for much of it and has very little actual screentime. At first, you only get brief, mostly obscured glimpses of it, and when you finally do start to see it full-on, it comes and goes very quickly, just allowing you to see how enormous and powerful it is. It has no personality to speak of, as it just wanders through Manhattan, destroying buildings and battling the military, and often screams. In the trailers, it sounded a lot like Godzilla, but you never hear that specific roar in the actual movie; instead, it makes trumpeting-like sounds and high-pitched screeches. According to the filmmakers, specifically Matt Reeves and effects artist Neville Page, its rampage is motivated by fear, as it's stumbled into the city and this new environment, as well as the military's attacks, are confusing and spooking it. Thus, aside from when it kills Hud at the end, for no other discernible reason than his presence seemingly annoyed it (it doesn't eat him, although Marlena does claim to have seen it eating other people), the death and destruction it causes seems unintentional and often a result of it defending itself. Moreover, despite its enormous size, they claim it's actually meant to be a juvenile, although this is never made clear in the film, nor is its origin. Again, aside from the very end of the movie, when the footage cuts back to Rob and Beth's day at Coney Island and you can just make out, in the distance, something falling into the ocean from the sky, we never learn what this thing is or where it came from. While that is an interesting idea, that Rob and Beth unknowingly filmed what would eventually rise out of the ocean, destroy their home, and seemingly kill them, when it first arrived, I'd personally prefer that its origin just remain a mystery and not be revealed in any future sequels. One thing is very clear: the monster is more akin to Japanese kaiju than American monsters, given how it proves virtually indestructible.

As for the monster's look, it's not bad, but it's also nothing special: a pale, quadrupedal, reptilian creature, with long but very thin forearms and stubby hind legs, limbs on its underside, a huge mouth with mandibles, black eyes, and gill-like membranes on the sides of its head. Have to say, I don't think it was worth all that hype. For me, the monster's sheer girth is more impressive than its design, as it was seen as quite enormous at the time, and the CGI used to create it, while dated

now, looked pretty good for the time and still does its job well. Unfortunately, this creature seemed to set off something of a trend for a few years, as there were movies made afterward that had creatures which, in one way or another, mostly due to their being huge, spindly-legged quadrupeds, reminded me of it. Examples include J.J. Abrams' own Super 8, the creatures in Monsters, and the MUTOs in Godzilla 2014. Fortunately, this trend eventually died out but it's weird how such an overall "eh" design seemed to influence a number of people, consciously or not.

Far more frightening than the monster are these parasitic creatures that detach from its body. These things increase the already heightened level of terror, as you're now not safe anywhere. Even if you manage to get somewhere that the giant monster can't reach, there's something equally dangerous that can attack in your would-be shelters. The parasites are spider/crab-like in appearance, scuttling around on multiple legs, with nasty claws, a huge, serrated beak of a mouth, and four pairs of eyes. They're able to stick to and climb walls, are very fast and agile, and extremely aggressive. And like the deadly bite of a Komodo dragon, even if you manage to get away, you're still going to die if you're bitten. This is what happens to Marlena, as she falls ill, blood starts leaking out of her eyes, and then, after she's taken into a medical tent, we see, in silhouette, her torso expand and burst. Aside from the CGI, again, being more than a little dodgy at times, the only thing that hurts the parasites' effectiveness are some of the sounds they make. Their insect-like clicking and trilling is very unsettling, especially when the characters hear it in the pitch darkness of the subway tunnels, and so are their screeches and the loud snapping of their jaws, but they also tend to make these Donald Duck-like noises which, even in the frenzy of their attacks, can make it hard to take them seriously.

While the CGI creature effects are acceptable but not the best, the visual effects used to create the feeling that we're in New York as it's being destroyed around the characters (a combination of really goods sets, green screen, and digital work), the destruction caused by the monster, and the battle scenes between it and the military, are very well done and quite convincing. There are also some good practical effects, mostly in the form of makeup work. Since it's a PG-13 movie, there isn't

much in the way of gore (not that it's needed), save for a little bit around the halfway point, after they're first attacked by the parasites. The one that attacks Marlena leaves a nasty, bloody gash in the back of her right shoulder, and the sight of her bleeding from her eyes and her exploding silhouette are both shocking, with a big splatter of blood coating the plastic curtain she's behind. In the military command center, you see some badly busted up soldiers, as well as a corpse that's had its torso hollowed out, and an actual prop of a dead

parasite. And the rebar sticking through Beth's shoulder is painful to look at. All of the other deaths are the typical casualties you see in giant monster movies, where you can guess that people are being crushed by either the monster's girth or buildings collapsing on top of them. Even when Hud is attacked by the monster at the end, you don't see him get torn to pieces or anything, save for a very quick shot of at least one of his legs getting ripped off.

When the movie starts up, with the Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot logos, there's no music, but you do hear a distant, faint booming which gradually gets louder and louder (another obvious tribute to Godzilla). The absolute dead silence, save for that sound, is really creepy and works in establishing a mood right off the bat. But then, when the movie begins, the first major scene doesn't happen until almost twenty minutes in, as Jason is trying to convince Rob to try to fix things with Beth. Suddenly, their building is rocked by a

powerful tremor that plunges the entire city into darkness for a few seconds. Once the lights come back on, and with everyone panicked and wondering what just happened, they turn on the TV and see a news report about a possible earthquake, as well as a capsized oil tanker in New York Harbor. Thinking they may be able to see something up on the roof, everyone heads up there, and they're joined by other people in the building, continuing to speculate on what's going on. Within a few seconds, there's an explosion in the distance,

one so big that it sends large, burning chunks of debris right at them, forcing them to run back inside. Everyone heads back down the stairs, with the building shaking, an alarm blaring, and the lights going out repeatedly. The chaos causes Hud to fall and drop the camera at one point, with Rob helping him up. They all head into the street, which is full of throngs of people running for it, and Hud zooms the camera into a huge cloud of smoke down the street from them. He, Lily, and Rob try to find out what happened to Jason, when they hear a

roar, followed by an enormous object getting flung into the top of a nearby building, before coming down at them. Hud runs to the sidewalk to dodge it, as it hits the street and skids right past him, coming to rest and revealing itself to be the clawed head of the Statue of Liberty. Everyone gathers around the head, some taking pictures on their cellphones, and Jason shows up and rejoins the group. There's another rumble, and they look back down the street, with Hud catching the first

glimpse of the monster. He asks the others if they saw it too, when the Woolworth Building collapses, sending a cloud of smoke and debris at them. Hud, Lily, Rob, and Jason take cover in a store, as the cloud blasts past them and the lights go out a couple of times. Even after they come back on, a rumbling shakes the store, as Hud tells Rob, "I saw it. It's alive." As soon as he says that, the storefront's windows are blown out and he drops the camera, as everyone coughs from the floating

glass particles and the debris cloud. Once it abates, Jason, ignoring the others yelling at him, walks outside. With no other recourse, Rob and Hud follow him, and find that the street is now akin to a nuclear wasteland, with ash everywhere, random fires, and people walking around in a shocked stupor, including Marlena. After surveying the damage, Hud notes to everyone that he got it on tape and they decide to rewind it to get a look at it themselves.

Naturally, they're freaked out when they do see it, and Jason declares that, regardless of what they saw, they need to get out of Manhattan. He then suggests they head to the Brooklyn Bridge, which is nearby, and with that, they make the walk down the destroyed street, past half-collapsed buildings, burning vehicles, injured people being treated by EMTs, and police directing the evacuees. They see the bridge up ahead and, within a cut, they're walking across it, with Hud continuing to film. A helicopter hovering overhead orders them to keep

moving and not to stop for any reason. At one point, Hud looks to his right and videos a burning ship, as well as a helicopter's spotlight illuminating the decapitated Statue of Liberty. Rob gets a call from Beth, and as he tries to listen to her, Hud tells the others to stop. They get separated by the masses, with Jason getting pushed up ahead, unaware of what's going on, as Rob tries to calm Beth, who's obviously panicking. The bridge suddenly sways and they look down below them to see people abandoning their cars and running back

towards Manhattan. Everyone on the bridge starts panicking, with Hud unable to reach the others. Up ahead, Jason climbs onto a light and shouts at them, asking why they stopped. Lily screams for Jason to watch out and he looks up when he feels water raining down on him. An enormous tail is hovering above him and comes down onto the bridge, killing him and dozens of other people, as it smashes right through it. Hud is knocked off his feet and gets back up, as Rob and Marlena have to 

pull a hysterical Lily back down the bridge, which collapses up ahead of them. Everyone runs in a panic back down towards the city, with the bridge collapsing behind them and the suspension cables snapping loudly, all while they can hear the monster roaring nearby. Once they're back on solid ground, they run to the streets, with Hud, again, falling briefly. He catches up with Marlena, Lily, and Rob, as they grapple with Jason's unexpected death. Hud does what he can to console Rob, who's

in utter shock, when he sees an electronics store being looted across the street. He tries to tell Rob that they need to get out, when Rob attempts to check his phone for messages, only to find that his battery is dead. He then runs across the street to the store, followed by Hud. When they run inside, passing by looters, Hud tries to tell him that the store is closed, when he sees that the TVs are on, one with aerial footage of the monster's tail destroying the bridge. Another has footage of the

monster, partially obscured by buildings, as it roams through Manhattan. He then sees military vehicles heading down the street right outside, and looks out to see that the monster, still obscured by buildings, isn't too far away. The military is announcing that a mandatory evacuation is in effect and Hud tries to convince Rob, who's frantically looking for batteries, that they need to leave.

As Hud tries to get Rob to listen, he turns around and sees that even the looters have been stopped in their tracks by what they're seeing on the news. He looks up at some TVs around the ceiling and sees some footage of the troops contending with the monster, as well as another aerial view that allows him to see it clearer than before. A reporter notes that there seems to be something coming off the monster, and Hud pans back to the TV showing the troops, which does show objects dropping off and hitting the ground. Everyone is then horrified when

those objects turn out to be the parasites, which begin attacking the soldiers and civilians who get caught up in the skirmish. Marlena and Lilly come running in, wondering what's taking them, when Rob, finally managing to get his phone working, here's a message from Beth, saying she can't move and begging him to come help her at her apartment. Rob heads out of the store and begins making his way to Midtown, with the others following. He calls Beth, tells her that he's on his way, and tells the others to join the evacuation. They continue

following, trying to talk some sense into him, but he's not to be dissuaded and continues on. While Lily accompanies him, Hud and Marlena follow on, down the streets and alleyways, all while trying to talk him out of it. They're walking down the middle of a street, when the monster suddenly appears at the other end. Immediately, it's fired upon by the military behind them, and they have to run to the sidewalks to avoid the crossfire. Hud takes cover behind an abandoned car, where he's

surrounded by assault rifle and bazooka-wielding soldiers, as well as tanks, which lay into the monster. He sees the others across from him, and Rob yells and points down the street, but Hud can't hear him. They run across towards him and down the street, with him chasing them. They run down the stairs into a subway station, with two rockets then exploding right at the top of it, causing Hud to fall on his back. Rob helps him up and they all run deeper into the station, before basically collapsing in exhaustion and terror.

Eventually, Rob comes up with the idea to walk the subway tunnels, and even though the others aren't sure about this, the constantly blinking lights and sounds of rumbling up above convince them to chance it. Hud, fortunately, finds a light on the camera, meaning they don't have to walk in the complete darkness. After walking for a while, and with Hud annoying them by bringing up stuff they don't want to think about in this situation, they stop for a moment when they hear something behind them. They opt to keep walking, when Marlena is

disgusted to see rats running past them. Hud notices that they're all running in the same direction, as if fleeing something, and points the camera back down the tunnel. The light doesn't illuminate anything but, nevertheless, they decide to pick up the pace and get out at the next station. They then hear a kind of screech in the dark behind them and stand there, listening. Continuing to hear unsettling sounds, Rob suggests Hud turn on the camera's night vision. He stands in front of him and switches it on himself... and that's when Hud looks

through the viewfinder and sees the parasites climbing along the ceiling behind Rob. When one of them jumps down, Hud yells for them to run and they race down the tunnel as fast as they can. One of the parasites jumps on Lily's back and pins her to the ground. Rob runs in and kicks it off her, when another jumps at Hud, causing him to fall and drop the camera. He becomes surrounded by the parasites, which jump at and around him, with one landing in front of and snapping at him.

Marlena grabs an iron bar and beats the creature lifeless, when another one jumps her from behind, pins her down, and bites into her. Rob kicks it off, helps her up, and the three of them join Lily in retreating through a door in the wall. More parasites come at them, with one getting jammed in the doorway by Rob and Lily, who manage to force it back, then close and secure the door. They then take a breather, as well as see to Marlena's bite, in a break-room.

They decide to head up to see where they are, finding themselves in a department store, which is filled with bright lights pointing at them. While walking, Hud notices that Marlena doesn't look too good. She says she's dizzy, but that she can go on. Suddenly, a bunch of soldiers come in and point their weapons at them. They then lead them into the depths of the store, which has been turned into a command center, as well as a makeshift medical bay for the wounded. Rob tries to get the commanders to help them save Beth but they're

unwilling to do so, with one having warned him that Columbus Circle is the last place they want to be at the moment. They try to force them onto the evacuation choppers but Rob isn't having it, telling them that they only way they can deter him from going to Beth is to shoot him. Marlena then tells Hud that she doesn't feel good, and when he looks at her, there's blood leaking from her left eye-socket. A female doctor sees this and grabs her, yelling, "Bite! We've gotta bite!" Marlena begins coughing up blood, as the woman and some men in

biohazard suits isolate her. Hud and the others are pulled away, as Marlena is dragged into a section separated by plastic walls. The camera catches Marlena's torso exploding in silhouette, coating the plastic in blood, and the others are forced into a corridor, horrified and hysterical after what they've witnessed. The one soldier tells them there was nothing they could've done to save her. He then tells the two other soldiers with him that he'll get them to the choppers from where they are. Once

they've gone and group have gotten their wits about them, the commander leads them down the corridor, telling Rob that he won't stop them from going after Beth, but he also warns them that the government is considering using the "Hammer Down" protocol, meaning they're going to level Manhattan in order to destroy the monster. He tells them that the last evacuation choppers are leaving at 6:00 that morning at 40 and Park, and sends them out. Back out on the street, Rob offers to go on ahead alone, given how traumatized Hud and Lily are about Marlena, but they opt to stick with him.

They reach Columbus Circle, and are faced with the sight of Beth's building tilted over and leaning up against the one next to it. Initially unsure of how to go about it, Hud gives Rob and Lily the idea of going up the other building and getting onto Beth's roof. Ignoring him when he immediately tries to talk them out of it, they head forward and he reluctantly follows them into the other building. Finding that the elevators in the lobby aren't working, they begin the long trudge up the stairs.

After an exhausting climb up nearly sixty floors, they make their way down some long, dark hallways and into an apartment where the back wall has been blown out by the other building's impact. Despite how precarious it is, Rob insists they can make their way over to Beth's roof. He and Lily go first and make it by using an air conditioning unit as a means of balancing themselves. When it's Hud's turn, he points the camera to his face and says, "If this is the last thing

you see, that means I... I died," before attempting it. Despite getting a scare when some of the ledge to his right breaks off, and fighter jets zoom by overhead, he and the others make it across the roof and through an emergency door. They head down a tilted hallway, towards Beth's apartment, with Rob kicking the door down. Walking through the apartment, which is completely destroyed, they find Beth, unconscious and with an exposed piece of rebar penetrating through her left shoulder. She awakens and, after a nice, tender reunion between

her and Rob, Hud puts the camera down and helps him and Lily lift her up off the bar. They then sit Beth down and tend to her wound, when they hear a screech and see the monster approaching from out the window. The four of them book it out of the apartment, back down the hallway, and carefully make their way back across the roof and into the other building. Some fighter jets zoom past overhead, having bombed the monster nearby, and the group quickly climb across, as the bombing continues. They head back down the stairs, only to

be ambushed by a parasite, which drops down from the ceiling onto them at one point. Rob quickly gets a fire axe and fatally stabs the creature into the floor with it. They walk past its convulsing body and continue down the stairs, reaching the lobby and heading outside, having to get across some rubble before running out into the street.

As they run through the streets, they get caught up in another battle between the military and the monster, with missiles hitting some buildings to their right and ahead of them. They round a corner and keep going, passing by the monster, as it's fired upon, and rush to the evacuation point. On the way, Hud, who's lagging behind, looks to his left and yells in terror when he sees the monster crush a tank beneath its huge foot. They make it just as the choppers land and are escorted to them. Despite

their protests, Lily is put onto a separate one from Rob, Beth, and Hud. Rob then tells her that they'll be right behind her, and the chopper lifts off. As they wait for theirs to arrive, Hud freaks out when the monster appears just down the street to his left, with the military continuing their assault on it. The three of them are put aboard the chopper and are strapped in, as the pilot says the final bomb run is starting. They close the door and the chopper lifts up into the air, as the monster flings a vehicle across the square. Once they're far up into the air,

they witness the bombing run on the monster, with one of the bombs hitting it dead on in its back and the others leaving a trail that explodes all around it. It loses its balance, drags its right hand down the backside of a building in front of it, and then collapses. The radio crackles that the monster is down, and it disappears within the enormous cloud of smoke. Hud is ecstatic, exclaiming, "Yeah, yeah, yeah! That's the shit, right there! That's what I'm talking about...!" But he spoke too soon, as the monster jumps out of the fire and smoke and hits

the chopper dead-on, sending them into a tailspin. When they crash, the camera briefly flashes back to Rob and Beth's date, and if you pause it at the right moment, you can also catch a subliminal flash from the original 1933 King Kong (one of several such moments in the film, with brief flashes of other movies like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Them!).

After the crash, the discarded camera lingers on the side of the downed chopper, when a voice crackles over its radio, "This is Hawkeye 6. Target still active. Initiating Hammer Down. TOP: Fifteen minutes. Sirens will sound two minutes out. If you can hear those sirens, you are in the blast zone." Beth then awakens Hud, who was knocked senseless by the crash, and the two of them pull Rob from the wreckage, as the camera catches a shot of the dead pilot. They pull Rob a far distance 

from the chopper, and Hud puts the camera down in order to use his belt to put pressure on a bleeding wound on his arm. With jets flying overhead, Hud tells them they need to get away from the wreckage before it explodes. He and Beth help Rob get on his feet and they're about to walk away, when Hud goes back for the camera. Rob and Beth then scream, and the monster stomps down right in front of Hud. It looms above him, looking around, when it peers down and spots him.

It gets in close, then lunges at him with its enormous jaws. It rips him up into the air, then lets him drop, along with the camera, after tearing off at least one of his legs. Rob and Beth come running back to him and then, following a jump-cut, the two of them run to Central Park and take cover under an archway, as the monster's continuing rampage can be heard in the distance. Collapsing beneath it, they hysterically cry over how they've lost everyone, and the hopeless situation they're in. Beth says they need to get out but Rob tells her

there's nowhere they can go and that they should stay where they are. After he tries to comfort her, he points the camera at his face and, hearing the sirens and explosions, begins his own testimonial: "My name is Robert Hawkins. It's, uh, 6:42 AM on Saturday, May 23rd. Approximately seven hours ago, something attacked the city. I don't know what it is. I don't know. If you found this tape, I mean if you're watching this right now, then you probably know more about it than I do. Whatever it is, it killed my brother, Jason Hawkins, it killed my best

friend, Hudson Platt, and Marlena Diamond, and many, many others. We've crashed into Central Park and we've taken shelter under this bridge. The military has begun bombing the creature and we're caught in the middle." He then turns the camera to her and she gives a tearful, exhausted testimonial of her own, before a nearby explosion knocks the camera out of Rob's hands and buries it beneath some rubble. As the bridge begins collapsing, Rob and Beth confess their love for each other.

The last bit of the footage is the end of Rob and Beth's Coney Island date, as they seem to be riding a Ferris wheel. After panning away from a shot of the ocean, and unknowingly catching the object that flies into it (it's very easy to miss; it's over to the right and comes down right before the pan), Rob tells her, "We're almost of tape. We got like three seconds left. What do you want to say? What do you want to say? Last thing to the cam." With a big smile on her face, Beth says, "Um... I had a good day." After the credits, a voice (Matt Reeves) says, "Help us," and if played in reverse, it says, "It's still alive."

Like most found footage horror films, there's no music score in Cloverfield, save for the songs heard during scenes like the party and the ending credits, which feature the memorable overture, Roar!, composed by Michael Giacchino. It's pretty cool, definitely suitable for this type of monster movie, but even more significantly, Matt Reeves confirmed on the audio commentary that it's meant as a tribute to the work of Akira Ifukube. I honestly didn't think about that when I first saw the movie (don't ask me why, because I definitely should've caught it), but now that I listen to it, I can definitely hear that same big, grand, brassy feel that Ifukube often brought to his kaiju scores, accompanied by a lot of female vocalizing, which he also used from time to time.

In my humble opinion, Cloverfield is a great monster movie and one of the best examples of the found footage subgenre. It has likable characters, an epic scope, it's well shot and you always know that's going on, it moves at a brisk pace (it's only 84 minutes long, and eleven of those minutes are the ending credits), has some well done visual and practical effects, successfully depicts just how terrifying it would be to be caught up in an attack by a giant monster, and above everything else, feels like a nice love letter to Godzilla movies and giant monster movies in general. It does have some drawbacks, like the CGI for the creatures not being that great, the monster itself being far from amazing, and some may be put off by the allusions to 9/11, but other than that, I really enjoy this flick. Like The Blair Witch Project, it seems there was a backlash against it ever since its release and it became trendy to hate on it. If you heard a lot of negative talk about it and haven't seen it as a result, I say it's worth checking out if you're at all a fan of giant monster movies.