Like the promotional scheme for the intriguing but ultimately deflating "The Blair Witch Project" (1999), the in-cinema teasers for "Cloverfield" were little short of genius. How can anyone resist promos that have a group of young people leaving a party in downtown Manhattan to investigate some type of loud explosion, only to observe them screaming in terror as the head of the Statue of Liberty catapults towards them?

Like many others, I was left wondering for months, "What in the hell is this movie about?" Now I know, and let me tell all of you that this film is wildly inventive and horrifying entertaining. (And for what it is worth, "Z", my exchange student, loved it.)

First of all, this movie is shot entirely from a hand held camera. Centering around a going away party for one of two brothers (Michael Stahl-David), a friend is asked to record everything at the party so that Stahl-David can take it with him on his move to Japan.

The initial part of this film deals with the interrelationships of this group of partygoers at a condo in Manhattan, and it does so in a realistic upbeat and honest manner. It was refreshing to see young people playing real young people and avoiding one-dimensional clichés.

As the action spills out into the street and the horror begins, the friend with the hand-held camera continues to record everything. Limited to seeing what that camera sees, it seems as if the audience becomes a member of the cast, and their terror becomes yours.

The source of terror is a giant reptile that is literally destroying Manhattan. While I know many of you will immediately conclude that such a film has to be too cheesy to waste your money on, I urge you to overcome your skepticism. Quite frankly, and with all due apologies to "Transformers", you are in for one of the most unanticipated surprises in the cinema in the past year.

Additionally it would be manifestly unfair to simply label this film as a "monster movie." Without saying more, it would do a supreme injustice to the quality of the film itself.

For at its heart this film is a compelling drama about love and friendships, focusing0 on why human beings will put themselves in harm's way to save another. As "The Orphanage" touched a primal nerve relating to the bond between a mother and son, "Cloverfield" explores a young man's refusal to leave a lover in peril even though his quest is seemingly doomed from the start.

"The Blair Witch Project" never delivered on its sense of impending dread, but such is not the case here. Like friends and lovers on the Titanic, if a heroic attempt at survival is to be denied, then at least you can die in each other's arms, the words "I love you" the last you shall hear in this world.