A Rundown of the 13 Best, Most Recent Horror Movies I’ve Seen
[10 of 13]
CLOVERFIELD (January 2008)


… following in the wake of Bong Joon-ho’s Gwoemul and Frank Darabont’s The Mist, Cloverfield is clearly another towering entry in the annals of creature features, a pulse-pounding monster movie for our post-9/11, YouTube world of instant documentation, upload, and access, where creatures can exist and wreak havoc on both the silver screen and the World Wide Web.

Read the entire review here.

(Cloverfield OS courtesy of bloody-disgusting.com.)

CLOVERFIELD
(Review)

When J.J. Abrams, Lost writer Drew Goddard, and Felicity co-creator Matt Reeves, get together with the intention of giving America its very own iconic monster ala Japan’s Godzilla, that’s just something you have to pay attention to.
And when the film itself is surrounded by a cloak of secrecy, preceded by a trailer that sparked fanboy insanity and birthed crazy-a$$ rumours that stretched from Voltron all the way to Cthulhu, and hyped by a viral marketing campaign that supplied a fascinating back story, well, Cloverfield was simply something that had to be seen.


We open in darkness. Color bars slam onto the screen. Text indicates that what we are watching is a tape recovered from an incident site of something code-named “Cloverfield,” a tape that is now property of the Department of Defense.
When the tape proper begins, it’s a quiet New York morning, following a pivotal night in the lives of Robert Hawkins (The Black Donnellys‘ Michael Stahl-David) and Elizabeth McIntyre (Odette Yustman, soon to be seen in David S. Goyer’s upcoming The Unborn), and right off the bat, Abrams and company slam us with two very potent realities.
One, there’s an immediate and overpowering sense of voyeurism, as we are acutely aware that this is a tape that has been seen and analyzed by the U.S. military and government. And two, there’s also the immersive feeling of being part of the action, of looking out through the camera’s viewfinder and being in that room, in the middle of these people’s lives.
All throughout the film’s running time, as we bear witness to a day at Coney Island—used subsequently as a potent emotional counterpoint throughout the film—then Rob’s going away party (he’s off to work for Slusho! in Japan), and the bizarre catastrophe that mars the evening’s proceedings, we never quite escape this double-headed contradiction, and this intriguing mixture of these two opposing feelings is merely one of the many things that makes Cloverfield work so fiendishly well.


The fact that Goddard’s script and Reeves’ direction exploits the first person handheld shaky cam narrative convention Cloverfield chooses so effectively, is also another reason why I was so impressed with the film.
To begin with, I wasn’t terribly enamoured of The Blair Witch Project, which used the same DIY documentary aesthetic and left me with a case of motion sickness and an overall sense of dissatisfaction at having spent so much time with a group of boring and uninteresting ciphers.
Given my less-then-stellar experience with Blair Witch, I was understandably anxious about this aspect of Cloverfield, despite my excitement at the film’s creative pedigree. So when the first 18 or so minutes managed to suck me in so completely that there was actually a part of me that got annoyed at the sudden shift in tone when the attack begins (I really wanted to chill out some more with these people), I knew that Reeves and Goddard had me.
And when the remaining hour or so shapes up to be a tightly wrought, adrenaline-pumping, emotionally-wringing cinematic experience, well, that’s just brilliant, isn’t it?


Naturally, the film’s depiction of an attack on New York, and the resultant fear and panic and shock that accompanies it, evokes the reality of 9/11, and actually shunted me back to the pivotal moment I saw the towers’ collapse on CNN (which I had stumbled upon completely by accident as I was channel-surfing).
It was an unsettling echo of that overwhelming sense of being witness to the real-time unfolding of a catastrophe that you could do nothing to stop, while simultaneously feeling a part of the tragedy by your being its witness.
And while Cloverfield presents a fictional situation, the first-person POV nonetheless slams you right in the middle of the action, making the resultant experience a very raw and visceral one. And getting us to care for Rob and his friends only manages to raise the stakes higher. (Even during his Felicity days, Reeves already displayed a sharp eye and ear for characterization.)


At this point, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the excellent cast here, who all give naturalistic performances that belie the inherent over-the-top craziness of the whole monster movie milieu: these are just people who suddenly find themselves at the heart of a devastating catastrophe.
Yes, it’s being caused by a monster running rough shod over New York, but the damage to both property and people (and the shock and trauma that serve as accompaniment) is still very evident and undeniable.
It helps, of course, that not only are these actors well-cast, they’re also not recognizable marquee faces, thus contributing to the authenticity of the experience. Most are TV faces—Stahl-David; The Class’ Lizzy Caplan; Carpoolers’ T.J. Miller; and Jessica Lucas, from Life As We Know It and Edgemont—while Mike Vogel, who plays Rob’s brother Jason, starred in Poseidon and The Deaths of Ian Stone.


And while they’re all commendable, the stand-out amidst the supporting players has to be Miller, who plays Rob’s goofball best friend Hudson “Hud” Platt. Hud’s a tag-along dopey sidekick who finds his calling as designated documentarian of Rob’s going-away party and takes it to heart, as it’s a very important job, or so Jason tells him, as he fobs off the thankless task to Hud.
It’s a testament to Miller that he performs the majority of his role off-camera—since he’s the one supposedly shooting—and still manages to leave an indelible mark on the film’s proceedings.
It’s also because of Hud’s manner that the idea of him dumping the camera—and thus shirking off his perceived responsibility as the evening’s documentarian—smoothly becomes something inconceivable, even when all the mayhem breaks out. Hud is someone who needs to have something to talk about, something to do, and the camera is quite possibly the one thing that keeps him focused and sane as the city around him ignites in creature feature insanity.
Which is a particularly good thing, as one of the other things that bugs me about this approach is why in the hell the camera guy never seems to just hurl the damned camera at whatever’s chasing him (thus effectively lightening his load and truncating the film’s running time).
Miller and Goddard’s script admirably address this concern, and Cloverfield is all the stronger for it. (The going-away testimonials which Hud eagerly records early on also serve as the smart set-up for the Blair Witch confessional moment you just know is gonna come around sooner or later…)


In fact, the only (admittedly not that major) rupture in my enjoyment of the proceedings is quite possibly when the gang runs into the military, since, a) the grunts are taking orders from a recognizable genre face (Twin Peaks’ Chris Mulkey); and b) they don’t seem to bother confiscating the camera, which military types are usually prone to do in this sort of situation, right?
Well, I guess they were just too busy mounting the big attack.
And like I said, not that major.


Now, as to whether Abrams and company were ultimately successful in their initial goal, of giving America its iconic movie monster, I’m not entirely sure. The thing is, it’s pretty freaky-a$$ looking.
Let’s face it, some dude in a green rubber reptile suit vomiting radioactivity (or even a giant ape scaling the Empire State Building) is a lot more pop culture-friendly than this bizarre, misshapen (and nameless) monstrosity.
But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, right?
In the meantime though, following in the wake of Bong Joon-ho’s Gwoemul and Frank Darabont’s The Mist, Cloverfield is clearly another towering entry in the annals of creature features, a pulse-pounding monster movie for our post-9/11, YouTube world of instant documentation, upload, and access, where creatures can exist and wreak havoc on both the silver screen and the World Wide Web.
And with any luck, in the collective pop culture consciousness as well.


Parting shot: Cloverfield hits DVD on April 22, and you can check out Afterthoughts (62) in the Archive to see your choice of U.S. retail exclusives…

Parting shot 2: Reviews of Bong’s Gwoemul and Darabont’s The Mist can be found in the Archive, along with episodic recaps/reactions to Lost.

(Cloverfield OS courtesy of bloody-disgusting.com; images courtesy of 1-18-08.com, empireonline.com, filmz.ru, and wired.com.)

HEROES
Season 2
Volume Two: Generations
Chapter Ten: “Truths and Consequences”
Written by Jesse Alexander
Directed by Adam Kane
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

They may as well have called this one “A Tale of Two Dunces.”

Dunce #1: Wonder Twin Maya, who is pretty much wrapped around Sylar’s grubby little finger.
Sylar undermines the bond between the Wonder Twins, getting Maya to think that Alejandro hates her for killing his cheating bride, and getting her to admit that she really did want to see the white-clad floozy dead.
He even takes a calculated risk to convince Maya that she can control her power without resorting to Alejandro, which he does by getting her riled up, then as he’s wheezing to death, pleads with Maya to help him. She does of course, getting herself to calm down and keeping the scheming Sylar alive.
When Maya gets back to the motel room though, Alejandro’s been a busy little bee and gone on the Internet and fished out the story of Sylar being wanted by the authorities for murdering his mother.
Tearily, Maya confronts Sylar, and he admits to the killing, saying his mother attacked him when she learned about his powers, and an “accident” happened. Well, Maya relates, and she falls right into Sylar’s open arms.
She then tells Alejandro to hit the road, which he does, at first.
But he returns to face Sylar, only to get stabbed and dead.
And Maya, oblivious to Alejandro’s grisly fate, succumbs to the mounting emotions she feels for Sylar. (Eewwww.)
We see the pair again a little later, but for now…

Dunce #2: Peter, who is pretty much wrapped around Kensei/Adam’s grubby (and indestructible) little finger.
Peter tries to get back to the future, and lands in the very moment he and Caitlin are taken in by the containment suit people, but all he returns to the present with is one of those damned evacuation flyers.
When Peter tells K/A about the Shanti Virus—which just so happens will get released the following day!—K/A shows Peter a picture of the earlier generation, and points to the Woman Formerly Known As The Mystery Woman in the Photo Who Looks Like Joanna Cassidy, a.k.a. Victoria Pratt.
K/A says this woman is responsible for the Shanti Virus and she would know where samples of the virus are being kept. So Peter thinks, if I can’t get to the future to save Caitlin, I can try and stop the virus from getting released, thus taking away the danger that threatens Caitlin a year from now.
So K/A and Peter track down VP, who’s pretty shotgun happy, and when she sees that Peter’s working with K/A, she shoots both of them. But of course, both of them can regenerate. D’oh!
To be fair, VP is just about to blow K/A’s head off (no coming back from that!), when Peter knocks her out.
When she comes to, Peter and K/A try and wheedle the information out of her, Peter claiming they want to destroy the virus, VP saying K/A wants to release it, in fact, already tried to 30 years ago.
Dunce #2 will have none of this poppycock, and resorts to reading VP’s mind, and he finds out that the virus strain 138 (the one lethal enough to decimate humanity as we know it) is being kept in the Primatech facility in Odessa, Texas!
K/A unties VP, knowing full well she’ll go for her shotgun, giving him justification to shoot her, just as she’s about to fill Dunce #2 with some buckshot.
K/A and Peter get on down to Odessa, and sashay into Primatech like they own the damned place (despite Bob’s claim of superior security), but who should they meet but…
A little later for that. In the meantime…

The very sick Niki (though she claims she can’t get anyone else sick) goes to New Orleans and has a reunion with Micah, just in time to have Damon (Carlon Jeffrey) steal off with Micah’s backpack, a backpack containing a bunch of Micah’s expensive 9th Wonders issues, and the medal D.L. was awarded for bravery.
Micah smacks Damon a couple of times and wants to go off to get the medal back, but Niki will have none of this costumed gallivanting around.
Monica though, will have some of this costumed gallivanting around.
Taking a cue from St. Joan’s costume, Monica sneaks Micah out of the house to go off and retrieve the backpack.
The Double M make a nice team, but Monica insists Micah stay outside, out of harm’s way. Monica does some Yamikazi, and grabs the backpack, but the hoods arrive. Monica does a Spider-Man, but the dang St. Joan issue falls, and the hoods draw their guns.
We last see Monica being pushed into the hoods’ van, and Micah hightails it outta there.

And in Costa Verde, Mrs. B points a gun at Bob. (Go, Mrs. B!)
Bob’s making a condolence call, with what are supposed to be Mr. B’s ashes in an urn. (We know better, of course.)
The Bennets are distraught, and Bob is apologetic. Bob says they’re free to go and live a normal life now, but Claire rightly points out that her father is dead. There no longer is any “normal.”
Outside, Bob instructs Elle to keep an eye on Claire, so he can learn to trust her again, as Bob’s laying all the blame for the snafu on her. (She may be sociopathic, but Bob’s an a$$hole.)
Even as the Bennets are busy packing for their move, Claire is hurting, and is even willing to resort to having the Haitian delete her memories of Mr. B, so the pain can go away. West, of course, will have none of that kind of talk.
Later, at the impromptu service where Claire scatters her father’s “ashes” into the sea, we have the first time Hayden Panetierre has let me down in a big way in Heroes. There’s just something about the scene and the lines and the performance that rings hollow. And it’s not because I know Mr. B’s not really dead. The scene just doesn’t feel genuine.
Claire then says her goodbyes to West when she sees Elle in a nearby car. (Elle, by the way, is slurping a Slusho!)
Claire confronts Anti-Claire, while everyone else (including Mr. Muggles) watches. The face off ends with Claire smashing her fist into the car window, threatening to go public with her abilities, ‘cause when she does that, it’s Elle and the Company that are gonna be running for cover.

Meanwhile, Mo is there as Mr. B returns to the land of the living. Mo explains that Mr. B’s back because of Claire’s blood, and that now, he’s pretty sure the blood can help to find a cure for Niki.
Mo leaves Mr. B in restraints as he goes off to his lab.
After some off-screen lab work, Mo comes up with a vaccine. Yahoo!
He calls Niki to tell her he’s got the cure, but then someone else calls him: Sylar!
Calling him from: Mo’s apartment! To be precise, Molly’s bedside! (Where the hell is Parkman?!)
Sylar wants Mo back there ASAP, while Dunce #1 grins like the idiot that she is, waiting for the good Doctor Suresh to inject her power away.

And in another meanwhile, Hiro tracks down K/A and discovers his alias of Adam Monroe. Ando finds the record on K/A’s imprisonment, and Hiro ‘ports to that day, the day K/A tried to release the virus.
We see a young Papa Sulu and a young VP, and though VP disgustedly walks away from this madness, Papa S will have none of this “Let’s destroy the virus, for Heaven’s sake” blather, and instead, decides to store strain 138 in Odessa, Texas.
Which is where Hiro goes, just in time to freeze time and confront… Peter!
Hiro says, Outta my way, Dunce #2, that man killed my father.
Peter says, No way, geek.
We wrap the Volume’s penultimate episode as Hiro charges, sword drawn, while Peter charges up an electric ball…

So on the one hand, it’s great to have Adam Kane back in the director’s chair, but this episode feels like it’s moving just a tad too fast for it’s own good.
Yes, we are headed towards the volume’s finale, but still…
Not only are we made to bid adieu to poor Alejandro, but we’re given the genre treat of having Joanna Cassidy as a guest star, only to have her bite the dust as well.
Now, it’s one thing to do that and still have a character that actually registers as a real person, with a sense of history (as with Elya Baskin’s Ivan in Chapter Six). But in this case, a combination of Jesse Alexander’s script and Cassidy’s performance results in a bland character coming on-screen for a few minutes, then shuffling off to Buffalo before we have a chance to get to know her.
Given what’s present in this chapter, the actress playing Victoria Pratt could very well have been any other actress and it really wouldn’t have mattered.
It just feels like a bit of nasty stunt casting, to get a genre name in there so the geekboys (myself included) will get all pumped up for the episode, just to have it all be an annoying anti-climax.

Having said that though, this is, admittedly, a better episode than some of the season’s earliest. And they are labouring under the WGA strike and the less-than-stellar ratings and the fans’ less-than-enthusiastic comments about this sophomore season.
So fine, I’ll go easy, but I do wish some people would quit taking the stupid pills and look really closely at the people they think are their friends…
(I did get a kick out of the Slusho! bit, though.)

(All behind the scene images courtesy of gregbeeman.blogspot.com, except image #5, courtesy of superherohype.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (24)

24.1 So talks regarding the WGA strike are set to resume next week, after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Here’s hoping the networks and studios don’t decide to play Scrooge, so this mess gets resolved before Christmas.

24.2 It’s official: Cloverfield is indeed the title.
And as much as I’m glad they stuck with it, I can’t help but wonder whether this was the real title all along, or whether they went with it since that was the title most people had already associated with the movie.
At any rate, the official one-sheet is out, as well as a trailer attached to prints of Beowulf.
And regarding the last two images above, witness the sinister might of Slusho!
The provided captions for the photos are as follows:

MATT PARKMAN ATTEMPTS TO MINDBEND SLUSHO – AN ATTEMPT THAT WILL BE DOOMED TO FAILURE!

and

MATT TRANSPORTS SLUSHO TO SAFETY

(Cloverfield OS courtesy of bloody-disgusting.com; Cloverfield images courtesy of blackbookmag.com and filmz.ru; Slusho! images staged by Greg Yaitanes, under the supervision of Joe Pokaski, courtesy of gregbeeman.blogspot.com.)