It was easy to brush "Cloverfield" off as just another big budget, overly hyped up film. The hand held look had been done before, and the commercials and advertisements were non-stop. No one knew what to expect, and everyone wanted to know; "What the exactly is Cloverfield?". Even the horror magazine Fangoria was unable to obtain more than glimpses of the supposed monster in the photos they published shortly before the movie released. Was it a Godzilla movie shot with a hand held camera? Were they aliens? All anyone seemed to really know was that at some point, the Statue of Liberty lost her head.

The need to know what this movie was is what drew in the crowds, and it would be safe to assume that few were disappointed. Confused and somewhat dizzy, perhaps, but not disappointed.

"Cloverfield" took an approach that has been used several times before (the idea of the characters shooting the film themselves with a home video camera), and actually made it GOOD. The performances were all extremely natural, and while the beginning of the film was somewhat boring, it helped to establish a sense of the characters' reality before the chaos began. The monster is never completely seen until the very end, which is always extremely effective in a horror movie. It allows the audience's imagination to run wild, and builds the suspense until that moment when they see its face. Most notable about "Cloverfield", however, is the sense of chaos that it brings to both the characters and the audience. Nothing is ever explained, and even the military is at a complete loss at what is going on (though in later interviews it was said that the creature came from the sea, and was most likely a baby that had lost its way). The fact that the audience is never really told what is happening to the characters, even at the very end, is what sells the movie. The footage is extremely convincing, and at no point did it seem that they characters were doing anything that did not seem natural for that situation; an effect that both the acting and the camera work itself aided in. This sense of reality is what made the movie so frightening, not the monsters themselves. I personally am not one to become frightened by movies, and I was jumping the entire time. Could one really expect any less from J.J. Abrams (the producer who is also responsible for the shows "LOST" and "Alias") though?

While it probably would not have quite the same effect on a smaller television as it did on the big screen, "Cloverfield" is a must see. It is currently available on DVD.

8 out of 10.

Learn more about this author, Sarah Huth.
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