Cloverfield (2008)

A group of friends venture deep into the streets of New York on a rescue mission during a rampaging monster attack.

Director:

Matt Reeves

Writer:

Drew Goddard

Stars:

Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan

5 wins & 30 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lizzy Caplan	...	Marlena Diamond
Jessica Lucas	...	Lily Ford
T.J. Miller	...	Hudson 'Hud' Platt
Michael Stahl-David	...	Rob Hawkins
Mike Vogel	...	Jason Hawkins
Odette Annable	...	Beth McIntyre (as Odette Yustman)
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 Nikitina Bick	...	Party Goer (as Elena Caruso)

Storyline

To celebrate Rob's massive promotion, his lover, Beth, and friends, decide to throw a massive surprise farewell party, now that he is about to move to Japan. However, a deafening explosion and the arrival of an enormous scaly and gangly creature will abruptly interrupt the festivities, as all hell breaks loose in New York City, and the Statue of Liberty is decapitated. As the reptilian behemoth levels Manhattan, a daring dash to rescue Beth begins, while at the same time, everything is recorded through the lens of a hand-held camcorder, amid mayhem and destruction. In the end, where did this relentless invader come from, and above all, is there a chance of survival? As they go to investigate, an adventure deep into the streets of New York begins, as the friends are determined to rescue Rob's true love.

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Plot Keywords:

found footage | night vision | gigantic monster | alien | party | 

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Taglines:

Some Thing Has Found Us

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

18 January 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Clover

Filming Locations:

Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$40,058,229, 20 January 2008

Gross USA:

$80,048,433

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$172,394,180

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Bad Robot, Cloverfield Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The San Jose Mercury News described the creature as "a monster for the MySpace generation". Reviewer James Berardinelli noted, "The movie follows the Jaws rule that monsters are usually more intimidating when they are shown infrequently and only in brief glimpses". Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle described the creature as retaining "an air of mystery-a monstrous je ne sais quoi that makes him all the freakier." Richard Corliss of Time complained of the recycled elements of the creature, such as its emergence mimicking the original Godzilla film and its parasites being similar to the "toy meanies" from Gremlins (1984).

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Goofs

In the theatre, it is obvious that the footage is of very high audio-video quality, including multi-channel surround sound and ultra-high-resolution video at 24 frames per second, typical of movie productions, as opposed to 30-frame-per-second digitally compressed video with stereo sound that can be created with most consumer video. However, this is a necessary and deliberate change on the part of the crew, and not an error. Producing a movie with "authentic" quality based on the equipment Hud is carrying would have produced a very poor result when projected onto hundred-foot screens, and incompatibilities in frame rate between a 30-frame-per-second recording and the 24-frames-per-second provided by movie projectors would have created a movie which was unusable to most theaters.

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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.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the closing credits there is a garbled radio transmission which some say sounds like "Help us!", when played backward it says "It's still alive!"

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Connections

Referenced in Outlast (2013)

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Soundtracks

Officer Of The Day
Written and Performed by R.B. Hall
Courtesy of Dynamic Recording

User Reviews

Intense!

I thought that this movie would have its best scenes in the trailers, so when I went in I did not expect too much. But I did expect that it would be different given JJ Abram's influence on Alias. Well, if you're not much for jumpy cameras and are prone to motion sickness, you probably will not stay too long in the theater. But if you can focus wide and not get caught up too much in the details, you are in for an intense and unique take on the monster hits a major city (New York) genre. Where does it come from? What is it? One can speculate, but the movie is really dealing with the trauma of a small group of party goers and their encounter with the extraordinary! The effects are amazing, the acting by relative unknowns, hits on all marks; making the movie all the more convincing to the very end. Not for the faint of heart or the under-aged; under 17s might be up nights with the shakes, definitely don't take preteens! Way better than, "The Mist," a must see for giant monster fans everywhere!