drewbear | Friday: The Good

I went to see Cloverfield today and enjoyed it a lot. The premise is that the entire film is a copy of someone's handheld video camera footage that they'd taken during the event. Basically, it's a Godzilla-style movie as seen from ground level. And no, it's not Godzilla or Mothra or Gamera or Cthulhu or any of those; this is a completely new monster. In fact, the movie's name comes from the US military's code name for the beastie: Cloverfield.

Aside from the shaky-cam issues, I greatly enjoyed the movie. They waited a good while before showing more than a corner-of-the-eye glimpse of the monster, which nicely heightened the tension. And there are at least 3 scenes that I can think of which made me clench the armrests or flinch back from the screen. I probably would've had more, but there was a pack of jackasses sitting behind me (they came in after I sat down) that kept up a running commentary throughout the entire movie. It's a might difficult to be properly scared when the asshole behind you is commenting that "[he'd] never have done something that stupid. [He'd] have left (character) behind as dead and run for it!"

So. If you like horror or monster movies and can handle some potential shaky-cam-induced vertigo, then I heartily recommend Cloverfield.