Cloverfield (2008)

Film: Cloverfield (2008)

Stars: Michael Stahl-David, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, TJ Miller, Odette Yutsman, Mike Vogel

Director: Matt Reeves

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

All October long, The Many Rantings of John is running a marathon dedicated to the Horror classics of the 1960's-00's that I'm seeing for the first time this month.  If you want to take a look at past titles from previous horror marathons (both this and other seasons) check out the links at the bottom of this article.

This is the third season where we're tackling this specific time frame of horror movies, and in both of the last two seasons, we have ended with a found footage horror movie.  First was The Blair Witch Project, a classic and (imho) one of the best horror films ever made that basically set the modern rules for this subgenre of picture.  The second was Paranormal Activity, a film that would have so many sequels & spoofs (many of them pretty much making a joke of the initial picture), you'd be forgiven for forgetting that this is also a great movie.  The third one is generally the most revered, partially because the sequels were well-considered, and indeed, I'd actually seen one of the sequels (10 Cloverfield Lane) without realizing I was walking into this universe.  Today we are going to discuss Cloverfield to complete this found footage trio and to complete our season.  It's a fitting capper given we'll shift into a new angle on horror movies next season, and because for most modern horror movie fans, this is one of the top "wait-you haven't seen it?!?" films that I have on my list still.

(Spoilers Ahead) As I said, the movie is found footage, and the setup is that we have Hud (Miller), a loser of sorts who has a crush on a girl named Marlena (Caplan), and is hoping to talk to her at the going away party for his best friend Rob (Stahl-David) who is headed to Japan for a promotion, being in charge of videotaping the party for Rob as a present when he leaves.  During the party, the power goes out, and in the distance you can see some sort of creature that is wreaking havoc on Manhattan.  Initially five people from the party (Hud, Rob, Marlena, Rob's brother Jason (Vogel), and Jason's girlfriend Lily (Lucas)) head out, and they eventually see the literal head of the Statue of Liberty in the middle of the street and the Woolworth Building being demolished by a large alien monster.  They flee to the Brooklyn Bridge, during which Jason dies as the bridge collapses due to the monster, and they start to go into the subways, hoping to potentially find Beth (Yustman) Rob's girlfriend whom he is estranged from.  This results in first Marlena being bitten (and therefore, eventually dying) by the aliens, and then Lily fleeing on a helicopter that Rob, Beth, & Hud can't get on.  Rob, Beth, & Hud are in a second helicopter that is downed, and while Hud dies as he's killed by the monster, Rob & Beth are bombed by the government as they try to take down the creature.  The film ends with a cut back to Rob & Beth on a date in Coney Island...a UFO visible in the background of their video crashing into the ocean, likely starting all this.

I went into detail on the plot both so that I made sure I had it right (with found footage films, there's less exposition so you have to pay attention), and because the excessive plot is probably the film's greatest strength.  The way that it gives us too much information, and keeps us moving forward with whomever has the camera (initially Hud, then eventually Rob & Beth), means certain fates are missed.  We don't understand the why behind Marlena's death (is half of Manhattan getting bitten and then bleeding from their eyes?), nor do we understand if Lily lives or not, which in a conventional horror movie would be important.  This adds something real to this though-if you're actually going through an event like this, you're going to lose a lot of information, and come away with a lot of questions.  That devotion to realism keeps this fresh, and I suspect is why it still has a fanbase all these years later.

That said, this isn't as good as The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity.  For starters, I think it's too funny.  The movie spends so much time in Miller's wheelhouse, and given Miller's history as a comedian and playing characters who are, well, kind of a doofus, it leans in on that and it takes some of the suspense out for a "aren't we cool, we're going to be funny while it's scary" sort of vibes, and I didn't like that.  I am down with comedy in horror (Scream is perfect at finding that balance), but given the best parts of Cloverfield are the enigmas of what's going on, too much comedy makes that feel less important.  

I did, however, love the commentary on spectacle over all else.  In 2008, the iPhone had just come out, and while it wasn't ubiquitous, it would be pretty quickly (I got my first smartphone in late 2010, and I was the only person I knew at that point that didn't have one yet to give youngsters an idea of how quickly they took off from when they first launched in 2007).  While it's not iPhones, the need for cameras and phones are everywhere here.  There's a scene where the Statue of Liberty's head is in the middle of the street and the Woolworth Building is collapsing in the distance.  In a 1950's horror film, this would be a sign for everyone to run screaming, but in 2008...it's a moment for everyone to get out their cameras, everyone getting their chance to make a viral video or be the next Spielberg.  This, of course, was super prescient-in an era of gun violence and dangerous political rhetoric, our instinct isn't to stop it...it's to make sure we have it on video.  Truly a reflection of increasingly scary times.

And with those morbid thoughts, I thank you for joining us for another season of horror, and wish you a very Happy (and Safe) Halloween!

1920's: The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera

1930's: The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Dracula's Daughter, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Invisible Man, Mad Love, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London

1940's: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Cat People, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Dracula, The House of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Man's Revenge, The Invisible Woman, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Invisible Agent, The Mummy's Curse, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, Phantom of the Opera, She-Wolf of London, Son of Dracula, The Uninvited, The Wolf Man

1950's: Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy, Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, The Blob, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Creature Walks Among Us, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It Came from Outer Space, Revenge of the Creature

1960's: The Devil Rides Out, The Innocents, The Masque of the Red Death, Night of the Living Dead,Village of the Damned

1970's: The Amityville Horror, Black Christmas, Carrie, Dawn of the Dead, Don't Look Now, Flatliners Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes, The Omen, Phantom of the Paradise, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, When a Stranger Calls, The Wicker Man

1980's: Altered States, An American Werewolf in London, The Changeling, Child's Play, The Evil Dead, The Fly, The Fog, Friday the 13th, Gremlins, Hellraiser, The House on Sorority Row, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Pet Sematary, Poltergeist, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Sleepaway Camp, The Thing

1990's-Present: Arachnophobia, The Blair Witch Project, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Candyman, The Faculty, Final Destination, Flatliners, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Interview with the Vampire, Paranormal Activity, Scary Movie, Scream, Urban Legend