Cloverfield (2008)

Director:

Matt Reeves

Writer (WGA):

Drew Goddard (written by)

Release Date:

18 January 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Some Thing Has Found Us

Plot:

Revolves around a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Video Camera | Apartment | Explosion | Statue

Awards:

4 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Lizzy Caplan	...	Marlena
Jessica Lucas	...	Lily
T.J. Miller	...	Hud
Michael Stahl-David	...	Rob Hawkins
Mike Vogel	...	Jason Hawkins
Odette Yustman	...	Beth McIntyre
Anjul Nigam	...	Bodega Cashier
Margot Farley	...	Jenn
Theo Rossi	...	Antonio
Brian Klugman	...	Charlie
Kelvin Yu	...	Clark
Liza Lapira	...	Heather
Lili Mirojnick	...	Lei
Ben Feldman	...	Travis
Elena Caruso	...	Party Goer

Also Known As:

1-18-08 (USA) (promotional title)
Cheese (USA) (fake working title)
Clover (USA) (fake working title)
Monstrous (USA) (promotional title)
Slusho (USA) (fake working title)
Untitled J.J. Abrams Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images.

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Singapore:PG | UK:15 | Argentina:16 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Ireland:15A | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-13 | Australia:M | Czech Republic:15 | Hong Kong:IIA | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44015) | Taiwan:PG-12 | Germany:12 | Brazil:14 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Sweden:15 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Denmark:15 | New Zealand:M | Japan:PG-12 | France:U (with warning) | South Africa:13V (13LV) | Iceland:14 | Peru:14 | Austria:14

Filming Locations:

Bloomingdale's Department Store, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Bad Robot

Trivia:

Many scenes were shot with the Panasonic HVX200 "prosumer" digital video camera. Visual effects plates were shot primarily with the Thomson Grass Valley Viper Filmstream digital video camera; the effects camera in NYC was the Sony F23 digital video camera.

Goofs:

Plot holes: It would be impossible for any consumer camcorder to survive a 300 foot drop from the monster's mouth.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rob Hawkins: It's 6:42 AM. Beth's dad's place. He's out of town. And it's already a good day.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Robot Chicken: Especially the Animal Keith Crofford (#4.19)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Grown So Ugly

Not as good or bad as they would have you believe...

Well, after the all the hype and hysteria I finally got to see it. Is it as good or as bad as they say? The answer of course is 'no'. It's okay. As I am sure you know its a Godzilla meets Blair Witch mash-up with lots of beautiful people in peril. Youtube cinema with models. Does it work? Again, kind of. The irony is that it's meant to look 'real' i.e. filmed on a hand-held camera (a la Blair Witch) but it never does. The acting and the effects stand out like sore thumbs. The real killer is the monster: it just does not work. Unlike Alien where the glimpses of the creature built to a stunning finale, when you get to see it then, oh dear, a bit of a let down. I think it could have been so much better. There is a lot of life for this type of film format (especially in the horror genre) but Cloverfield just does not come up to scratch. Go and see it, just don't expect to be amazed.