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DVD Review: Cloverfield
Jun. 8th, 2009 07:55 pmLet's face it, we've become pretty sophisticated, which means that Frankenstein and Godzilla don't really cut it anymore. And the hack-n-slash gorefest crap that passes for horror these days is almost not worth the time it takes to yawn through them. So when I find a good, solid monster movie that makes me tense up and say "Oh my god!" at least once, I know I'm on to something.
If you don't already know, Cloverfield is set in post-9/11 Manhattan. During a Bon Voyage party, something attacks the city, decapitating the Statue of Liberty, in a very memorable moment, and laying waste to the Empire State building, the two most enduring symbols of New York. Add to that the memory of the events of September 2001, and you have the sense that this story isn't going to end well.
There's a breakneck race through the streets and subways of Manhattan, and ever-longer peeks at the monster and its spawn, but there's never enough time to take it all in, never time to allow the mind to process exactly what it is that's happening, so the imagination takes over, which any old school horror aficionado will tell you is the most effective way to scare the bejeebers out of someone. Let their mind do the work for you, let them imagine what is happening, what could happen, what will happen.
The casting of relative unknowns and the use of a near-real-time narrative are both critical to allowing the audience to put itself into the story. I only saw one actor with whom I was familiar, and it did push me right out of the film for a moment because it suddenly registered as just a movie, an entertainment. Until that moment I was very caught up in the narrative. I know that when I'm sitting forward in my chair urging the characters to "follow the rats, always follow the rats!" that I've been quite properly hooked.
In the end, Cloverfield is really nothing more than a monster movie for the 21st century, but one which doesn't depend on blood and gore, or some lunatic with a butcher knife. It's good fun.
If you don't already know, Cloverfield is set in post-9/11 Manhattan. During a Bon Voyage party, something attacks the city, decapitating the Statue of Liberty, in a very memorable moment, and laying waste to the Empire State building, the two most enduring symbols of New York. Add to that the memory of the events of September 2001, and you have the sense that this story isn't going to end well.
There's a breakneck race through the streets and subways of Manhattan, and ever-longer peeks at the monster and its spawn, but there's never enough time to take it all in, never time to allow the mind to process exactly what it is that's happening, so the imagination takes over, which any old school horror aficionado will tell you is the most effective way to scare the bejeebers out of someone. Let their mind do the work for you, let them imagine what is happening, what could happen, what will happen.
The casting of relative unknowns and the use of a near-real-time narrative are both critical to allowing the audience to put itself into the story. I only saw one actor with whom I was familiar, and it did push me right out of the film for a moment because it suddenly registered as just a movie, an entertainment. Until that moment I was very caught up in the narrative. I know that when I'm sitting forward in my chair urging the characters to "follow the rats, always follow the rats!" that I've been quite properly hooked.
In the end, Cloverfield is really nothing more than a monster movie for the 21st century, but one which doesn't depend on blood and gore, or some lunatic with a butcher knife. It's good fun.
