They did such a great job of the viral marketing of this movie that I was very excited about seeing it, and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed.
The premise is simple –- when an unknown force attacks New York City, a group of young New Yorkers capture the action on their camcorder. As a result we get to see the whole experience first hand, well, almost. The shaky hand-held camera work and some great performances from the little-know actors mean that you’re placed slap-bang in the middle of the action, with the heightened sense of realism making this a very stressful film to watch.
The CGI is slightly ropey in places, but thankfully the film doesn’t rely on it too much. The audio does suffer from some distortion, particularly during the louder sections, but that just adds to the authenticity – after all, this is supposed to come from a camcorder.
The disc has a cool feature which lets you access ‘supplemental files’ during the film at the touch of a button every time you see the battery symbol on screen.You’ll also find a selection of featurettes, deleted scenes and alternate endings on the two-disc version.
If you like disaster movies, action movies, thrillers, sci-fi, or all of the above, then you’ll love Cloverfield.
Hi David, yes there don't seem to be many people sitting on the fence when it comes to this one - they either love it hate it! I thorougly enjoyed it, although I admit that the CGI on the monster was pretty terrible.....I thought it had a great 'disaster movie' feel to it.....no?
Blimey - some strong feelings on this one! I think that the fact that the monster wasn't shown much was one of the film's strengths, as it covered up the fact that it didn't look that scary (thanks to some fairly shoddy looking CGI). Plus I thought it hammered home the panic felt by the central characters as they didn't really know what was going on.
Some of the best monster movies are the ones where you don't get to see the monster much...
Hi All,you want to see a monster movie,look at the original King Kong,or the hilarious Godzilla movies,these monster movies are meant to entertain,but lets face it,the plot is so thin on some of them,that seeing the monster right at the end is the only way it can be justified as being a monster flick,i still think that the first Alien movie is and will be for a long time, the very best..........Dave
Dave - I couldn't agree more! Alien is a fantastic monster movie. I also really like all the old Ray Harryhausen stuff....I think stop-motion animation gives a much better effect than CGI in a lot of cases....
Hi Dave, not sure if you were aware but I worked on Aliens two, video and graphics, some video assist as well. James Cameron - great director , but not exactly easy to work with. At one point he said 'How long will this take John, it's only costing us a thousand pounds a minute to get your bit right' I did feel some pressure then. After pressure like that do you wonder that I can shrug off the odd insult in life!
Cliff - this was a *relatively* low budget film, but fair enough, for 15m quid (Cloverfield's reported budget) they probably could have knocked up a better monster...
I liked it - it made me jump and it made me laugh. I liked the way they kept you guessing about the monster and what it was capable of, and the fact that it looked like some half-arsed experiment gone wrong. I also liked the way it assumed knowledge of monster movies on the part of the audience - like if someone's been bitten, they're bound to get infected and explode.
I also liked the way it resembled the way we see wars now, on YouTube, and the fact that it didn't have a happy ending.
I didn't get annoyed by the characters either - perhaps that was the key to liking the film.
Hello All,i thought i must be missing somthing in the Movie Cloverfield,so i,ve watched it again,but sorry folks i still think its crap.Been looking through my archive of horror movies and found some "doozies"Quatermass and the Pit,The Trollenburg Terror,The Abominable Snowman,and whats got to be an all time classic,The Blob[with S.McQueen]these are monster movies,in fact why dont we start a thread of your 10 best rated monster movies...........Dave
Just been reading thru reviews re "Cloverfield". Think I will give it a miss then! I had a feeling it would be like that other handheld camcorder film - the one where they are all running around in the woods?? I tried watching that but considered it crap!
Anybody bought a tv with built in Freesat yet?...........Doug
I regret paying the £12 for the DVD and thank goodness I didn't pay the £23 for the bluray version.
It was a typical first person type movie, Blair Witch, with the camera trying to give the movie some realism but for me the plot was as thin as I have seen and the complete lack of any real visibility of the "enemy" until almost the end of the film was terrible. Yes I am sure that some will say that it is a pure movietrying o move away from the monster/alien/baddy filled movies we have seen of late and that it is trying to get us to relate to the feelings of the individuals rather than just sit watching fights and chases, but for me, the hype this was given is not carried over into the delivery.
OK, it wasn't the worst disaster/monster movie I've ever seen, but certainly not one of my top ten.
Very strong comments here and surprised as I thought the idea and experience was unbelievably awsome. I'd find it hard to believe anyone that went to see this at the cinema left feeling they didn't get their moneys worth. In my opinion anyone who disagrees are either lying or just being difficult for the sake of it.
The idea had never been done before, the experience had never been experienced before, it was a movie that set history to what it was trying to do.
I saw it for the first time at Empire in Leiceter Square and at times was so disgusted I wanted to leave and is the only film that ever made me want to throw up right then and their. I'd read all the hype reviews before about people leaving because they felt physically unwell during viewing and when I went to see it, when the action kicked in I was scared witless from start to finish. It's becasue the bloody action does not stop or break right the way throughout when it begins, that's why it so ruthless and cruel to the movie and viewer, never been done before.
Saw it the second time at the cinema but didn't quite have the same effect instead got to see the other first timers having the fright of their life. Got it on DVD, good but the conclusion is that this movie for full appreciation has to have been seen at the CINEMA, DVD or anything is good but has not the same effect. That is probably where the bad comments come from.
This movie wasn't meant to have good acting (even though Lizzy Caplan holds the cast up in a professional way), it wasn't meant to have a good plot (even though the party scene at the beggining was a bit easy as pretty much all teen horros these days start with some sort of downgrading relationship, trashy crisis). The film was meant to simply do something no-one had done before and that's why it works.
I agree with David, this forum is not one for the teenagers just saying things to get a mention, I thought this was a serious site for those that appreciate (or not) all things AV.
Do we not have the ability in this day and age to say whether we, as individuals, like or dislike something without being accused of just playing up to the forum.
Sorry Neil, I for one thought the film was at best a good B movie but I am sure that some of the films I like, other people will feel the same about. That's life, I like things you don't and vice versa.
I am sure that the cinematic purist will say it was a piece of good cinematography, but as for making me feel like throwing up, well maybe.........................but only because I was sick at paying £12 for the DVD.
Hey guys. Half mistake for calling people liers but you know how a lot of people are these days, say things they don't entirley mean to make a point! It's just from an all round perspective, I feel this film has captured cinema entertainment in a way for ultimate enjoyment, even if I didn't like it I still wouldn't have felt it was crap the way you say it is, wanting refunds etc.
It just shows that you are passionate and enjoy your films which is cool all the same, that's why you take the time to write about it in a forum.
Again from an all round perspective the majority of comments i've had about the film has only been good from peolpe that's seen it to reviews i've read about it. This forum has been the only place that has expressed otherwise which is why it threw me.
But if you dont like it, you dont like it, that's no worries.
