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Rob (Michael Stahl-David) and Beth (Odette Yustman) are terrorized by a monstrous creature in "Cloverfield." (Photo provided by Paramount Pictures)

Monster film looks and sounds 'real'

Despite the presence of mind-twisting, building-tall monsters, "Cloverfield" is the most intimate, familiar monster movie ever made. So far.

Through a storytelling combination of found media and Sept. 11 echoes, "Cloverfield" may well herald a wave of films that rely on the blending of the fantastic and the recognizable. But for now, director Matt Reeves' film is its own creation, a twitchy thrill ride that is relentless in its escalation of tension, merciless in its intensity.

And a heck of a lot of fun.

"Cloverfield" owes an obvious debt to both "Godzilla" and "The Blair Witch Project." Like the former, it's a full-on monster movie, with a giant creature terrorizing a city (in this case, New York). Like the latter, a dose of Dramamine before watching wouldn't hurt, as the entire film is told through the lens of a hand-held video camera.

If you can stomach it, that's one of "Cloverfield's" great strengths. It never once drops the conceit that we are seeing the story through the lens of the camera with which Hud (T.J. Miller) was filming testimonials at a going-away party for his best friend, Rob (Michael Stahl-David), before all hell broke loose.

Through clever use of the camera -- and, in a brilliant touch, some footage that gets partially taped over -- "Cloverfield" also manages a little character development, like Rob's relationship with Beth (Odette Yustman), whom he will spend much of the movie trying to save.

Hud, Rob and Rob's brother, Jason (Mike Vogel), are taking a break from the party when massive explosions -- and ominous footstep-like thuds -- begin to rock the buildings.

If it looks like something you've seen before, it is. Some of the scenes, in particular one in which people scurry into a store while massive debris clouds roll past, are direct lifts from news footage of the Sept. 11 attacks.

But familiar scenes are what make the film so effective, and so scary. "Godzilla" was a cold-war nightmare, but "Cloverfield" is at times a real-life nightmare relived. We don't have to imagine the reaction to senseless terror. After 9/11, we know what it looks like.

While everything is seen through Hud's camera, it shows us the monster on a cable-news network on a store's television and overhears the cell phone message that sends Rob into action.

It's all there, on tape. More and more, this is the way we tell stories, the way we perceive truth. "Cloverfield" captures that experience and uses it in the way all good monster movies do -- by taking the familiar and twisting it, until it scares the pants off us.

- By Bill Goodykoontz / Gannett News Service

Cloverfield

Cast: Michael Stahl-David, T.J. Miller.
Running time: 90 minutes.
Rating: PG-13; violence, terror and disturbing images.