CLOVERFIELD: A Look Back, 15 Years Later

You would expect an article like this to start out by saying something like, “it’s hard to believe it’s been fifteen years since…” and that’s exactly how we are going to begin. It absolutely IS hard to believe that Clover first started wrecking New York City fifteen years ago. When Cloverfield was released on January 18th, 2008, found-footage style horror movies were very much a thing but somehow it came in feeling fresh and different. It took time to build up the characters and let us know who these people were before it threw in the curveball of that first explosion that caught us all off guard.

Cloverfield was the brainchild of J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) who wanted nothing more than to make a monster movie. He started coming up with ideas in 2007 and eventually brought on Neville Page to complete the actual design of Clover. The project was given the go-ahead and Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods, Bad Times at the El Royale) was tasked with writing, while Matt Reeves (Let Me In, The Batman) would be behind the camera. Everything was coming up clovers.

Surprise Parties are Scary!

The movie starts out calmly enough, showing us what must have been a beautiful day between our main hero, Rob (played by Michael Stahl David) and Beth (Odette Annable) as they visit Coney Island and generally have a pleasant time together. It’s kind of a shame that no one thought to switch out the tape because the events of the film are basically being recorded over what was probably the last good day either of them had.

We arrive at the surprise party via some clever editing (that made it look like home movies my dad recorded over with Monday Night Football) to find Rob’s brother, Jason (Mike Vogal), attempting to pawn the job of party documenter off to Hud (played by T.J. Miller). Jason is successful and Hud makes an absolutely awful, yet entertaining, go of it, somehow finding time to actually do what he was tasked with while simultaneously, hilariously, striking out with Marlena (Lizzy Caplan). Quickly we find out that the rest of the friend group was unaware of Rob and Beth’s budding, now soured, romance because Lily (Jessica Lucas) is really bad at keeping secrets. During Rob, Jason, and Hud’s attempted heart-to-heart, the film decided it was time to put its foot on the gas and things start going south quickly.

What Cloverfield Got Right

The moment I watched the head of the Statue of Liberty go sliding down the street while New Yorkers were running and screaming in every direction I knew I was in for a good time. It didn’t matter much to me what happened after that, I was watching a monster-horror, disaster movie filmed by slightly intoxicated twenty-somethings. It had me hooked. Luckily, I’m happy to report, that I didn’t have to sit through an effects-heavy monster flick with little to no plot, Cloverfield actually had a story.

Looking back with nearly fifteen years to reflect, it can be said that Cloverfield got quite a few things right. The first thing that stood out to me was the story, it was what a rom-com would be if a rom-com was set during an interdimensional monster attack. Man likes girl, man and girl have an amazing time, man thinks he can’t be with a girl because man is leaving town, girl gets new man, man tries to (and does) win back girl. That old formula set during the possible end of their lives is a nice touch for what could have been just another monster movie.

The pace is another thing the movie got completely right, with a runtime of only 84 minutes they didn’t leave a lot of time for fluff and with the found-footage angle, all the fluff got left between presses of the record button. The movie had really fun scares that built on the terror of a city under siege from a giant monster and the walking, biting, skin flakes that kept falling off of her (Clover is a girl monster and she’s absolutely adorable, you’ll never convince me otherwise). Speaking of Clover, that’s another thing the film got right. We saw just enough of the monster that we knew what she looked like but for the longest time, they let us fill in the blanks which are often far more frightening.

What Cloverfield Got Wrong

The short answer, as far as I’m concerned is, not a lot. There are plenty of people who bring up the shaky camera and how it legitimately made some people nauseous but I never found it a problem, I thought it was part of the appeal. I will be the first to admit that a few small plot holes do exist, the biggest two involving the camera itself. No battery would last that long and you know they didn’t have extras. Also… how did it survive if the military did what they said they were going to do? I can overlook those though, they’re big to some, but they didn’t hinder my ability to enjoy the movie.

Conclusion

J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves and company took what could have been a very straightforward monster movie with little to offer (other than eye candy) and delivered TONS of eye candy, explosions, and tense drama while also layering in heart and an actually appealing story. I loved Cloverfield when I first watched it in the theater all those years ago and re-watching it recently did little to change my mind. It has spawned two in-universe sequels, 2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane, and 2018’s The Cloverfield Paradox, with a reported direct sequel to the original film currently in development. Cloverfield is a hell of a good way to burn roughly 90 minutes and if you haven’t seen it yet (well, buddy, it’s been 15 years), I really can’t recommend it highly enough. If you like horror or monsters or just watching things go boom, this one is for you.

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