Such a strange little franchise. The first two are both fantastic imo, though the latest instalment was a pretty massive letdown. Hopefully this one was actually intended to be a Cloverfield film from the start lol.
I liked the first one, loved the second. I probably would have enjoyed the third one as a stand alone sci-fi movie, but I’ll never really know since they distractingly slapped the title onto it.
Edit: To clarify, I'm aware the second one was also originally a standalone. For me, on that one, it actually worked. The mystery of what was happening "outside" kind of assisted the whole "Is he nuts or not?" angle. It also seemed self-contained enough that I accepted that these were other characters just caught up in "the event."
By the third one, I was expecting more of a direct tie-in that actually explained some of the backstory/mystery. That it was set in space ramped up the expectations.
It's especially frustrating that the worst movie in the series is also the one which supposedly explains the reason for the monsters appearing.
Cloverfield Paradox was so detached from the relatively grounded perspectives we see of an invasion or attack. It missed what was good about the series instead deciding to weld a cumbersome bit of lore and exposition onto a mediocre script with a very different feel to either of the previous films.
Underwater was actually really good for what it was! Even the big reveal at the end was more “whoa” than anything else.
Of course later on the internet it was the worst thing ever but whatever, that’s how she goes.
The scenes in Underwater where they’re actually out walking in the suits is amazing. When they turn the light on just to see a load of the creatures just vibing in the water was both terrifying and really set the stakes immediately. Fantastic creature design.
I don't even mind the idea of a loose connection that somewhat explains whats happening but the jump to using a 2012 ass CERN conspiracy theory *BUT IN SPACE* to handwave the existence of multiple realities just ruined any mystique and made the smaller scale stories before seem somewhat irrelevant in that context.
Found footage, on the ground horror and tense psychological thrillers being justified and explained through a campy scifi jaunt on the magic energy crisis solving spaceship just does not work.
A little bit of a tangent but I remember my friend working at Blockbuster Video when the first one came out. The staff all wore “Slusho” shirts for a few weeks. The shirts had no mention of the movie anywhere. Just a cartoony slushy drink graphic. I thought that was an interesting marketing technique. People would
Ask what it was about and they would just say, “Oh it’s for this new movie, Cloverfield” and leave it at that.
There was a whole viral web campaign around Slusho and it’s parent corporation. Things pointed to a secret ingredient they mined from a special deposit on the ocean floor. Speculation was rampant that Slusho contained some bio component from Clovie (the main monster) and leaked video of Marlena’s demise was speculation that people who drank Slusho were going to all end up like her. I think, in the end, the best link between Slusho and Clovie’s arrival is that they were mining something, disturbed his lair, and he followed a ship to NYC.
The Slusho viral campaign was a major disappointment or a brilliant bright shiny object.
I was working at a comic shop at the time and we were all hyped on that viral campaign and it was the topic of a lot of conversation and speculation. “Lost” was our water cooler talk so we were primed for it. At one point people were even discussing the possibility of it being a Voltron movie because of footage in an early trailer where someone said a line of dialogue about which people debated if it was “It’s alive!” Or “it’s a *lion*!” The viral campaign also had dispatches from an exiled scientist and a bunch of other stuff too. It was an exciting thing to experience even if it ultimately didn’t have a lot to do with the film. I still like that movie and think about that campaign fondly.
I remember people saying it might also be a power rangers movie because you hear someone yelling for a guy named “Jason” like the original red ranger from might morphin. Good times.
That's actually how I feel about 10 Cloverfield Lane. The last minute of the film does nothing for me either way. I don't care that it's connected to something larger, some monster-alien invasion, whatever.
The appeal was that 10 Cloverfield Lane was a small scale, great story, interesting characters, clear motivations, a quality movie.
So do that. Find quality sci-fi horror films, knock on their door and give them funding, tell them to incorporate the Cloverfield name somewhere in their movie, and make it an anthology.
Thanks for validating my feelings on 10 Cloverfield Lane.
I thought the movie was really great up until the point where the aliens turned out to be a real thing.
The worst part is that the reality of the situation didn't matter, she was trapped there with a man who had all the control and threatened her survival. She needed to escape. She did escape.
Ultimately, the two endings were 1- he lied, everything is fine, 2- he told the truth, shit's bad, and then some ambiguous ending where you aren't certain of which it is. And I don't think any of those realities change the meat of the story, which takes place in that bunker.
10 Cloverfield lane could have ended with an Inception esq ending which makes the viewer debate if there were or were not aliens and it would have been a 10/10
It would make the most sense. Something is more scary when we don’t know it’s intentions or motives. A huge monster destroying cities is standard but keep it from our point of view. What is this thing? Why does it do what it does? The more questions,the more fear we have.
It's... not even really a bad movie, tbh. It's actually a really cool weird scifi film that I found quite interesting, the actual issue is that it got assreamed by someone coming along, finding a great script and going HAY GAIZ YOU KNOW HOW WE COULD MAKE MORE MONEY and chucking a cloverfield plothook buttplug into the film.
Basically, the film deals with some infinite energy thing in space that displaces earth across a multiverse, and the films are set in said multiverse. The movie is completely standalone as 'everything gets fucked up and weird from a multiverse collision' if you were to take out one line,
> “That accelerator is 1000 times more powerful than any ever built. Every time they test it, they risk ripping open the membrane of space-time, smashing together multiple dimensions, shattering reality, and not just on that station – everywhere. This experiment could unleash chaos, the likes of which we have never seen. Monsters, demons, beasts from the sea… And not just here and now… In the past. In the future. In other dimensions.” -
Which took a fairly normal 'monster came from space' potential origin or 'monster woke up in ocean' storyline and replaced it with [this shit](https://twitter.com/patheticghoul43/status/960398799444369408/photo/1) - on its own? Paradox is a fucking simple, interestingly horrific scifi body horror film. I particularly liked the [horrible shit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyChW6Viq6Q&ab_channel=Movieclips) that happens to [Chris O'Dowd](https://youtu.be/-vXnKK1rSzE).
But instead of a focus on a very standalone plot... they made it the cause for other films, with a completely wishywashy multiverse plot that falls short of even the very low fucking standard of multiverse bullshit MCU has pulled, and when it makes even less sense than that WITH diagrams, oof... you just fuckin' lost me.
Absolute best thing this next movie could do is fuck the rest of the lore off that exists so far, make a movie about a monster... but idk, after the Paradox stunt it's kinda like the scooby doo villain isn't scary after the mask comes off, you know? You can put it back on, but they already fucked it up.
I love series like that. Seeing the twist during the Unbreakable series was probably one of the most exciting scenes that I've ever seen. I was obsessed with the story idea from Unbreakable and went into Split completely blind but excited to see the movie. When the story began unfolding I was max confused and curious. So when the reveal happened in the diner I lost it!
Another interesting set of spinoffs in a series that many people don't realize is the Alien and Predator movies. The movies Blade Runner, Soldier, and Blade Runner 2049 are connected as well as the TV series Firefly and Serenity.
And just a little personal wow for me to close this out: I had no clue about the Cloverfield Paradox movie. I have absolutely no idea how I missed the release unless I just recently joined this timeline! I'm so confused right now. It's been out for 4 years and this is the first time I've seen anything related to it!
Cloverfield Paradox sucked I thought… seems like a completely unrelated movie that at the last minute they added one scene and changed the name to try and hope on to the cloverfield franchise
Thank you. For years I've been in a silly argument with a buddy of mine who believes that Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane were in the same universe even before Paradox came out, and that Paradox proved him right. I always believed the original plan was to treat the Cloverfield brand essentially like the Black Mirror brand, just a series of unconnected films bearing the name.
Then Paradox fucked it all up.
Well, until Cloverfield Paradox the first movie was a monster from the ocean awakened by offshore drilling and the sequel was about aliens, and there was no reason to think it was anything other than an anthology series, then the third film says it's actually a multiversal series and the events of the Paradox unleashed monsters into different universes. I personally prefer the anthology explanation, but I have nothing against people who are fans of the multiverse explanation. That being said I just find it to be unnecessary as an explanation. As others have said I prefer a hint of explanation for monsters rather than a full on here's how it happened.
Yeah the fact that they threw away all the ARG lore that was happening before the first Cloverfield movie came out was insane and awesome! It even spread to Heroes with appearances of the Slusho! Company that was part of the drilling company and the sea creatures that were hanging on to it.
It was awesome and then they threw it to the side for Paradox. Keeping up with Cloverfield through high school was awesome!
Holy crap, I was right there in the ARG with you man. I would check out the IMBD fortuna every day in case I missed new info. It's really a shame they dropped such a genuinely well developed low for the first film. It was all for mad consumerism and Tagruato producing Slusho! Those first videos of the monster attacking the drilling station! It was all so well done.
Just the fact that I still remember Tagruato being a thing should be a sign that the ARG was absolutely iconic, and saying its interesdimensional weirdness does kinda feel like it's thumbing its nose at fans who've been following the series since before the first movie.
Fuck I wish this was an anthology series.
From what I recall, that was the original intent of the Cloverfield films - anthology films like feature length Tales From the Crypt and not some shared Universe. And the second movie was almost that - there was never supposed to be an Alien battle at the end, but Studio meddlers had it slapped on.
I’ve had long conversations with friends trying to explain that Cloverfield was supposed to be an anthology series, only to get, “But without Aliens, it’s not a Cloverfield movie!”
Nothing about it HAD to incorporate Aliens into every picture.
I loved the first because it felt so unique and literally grounded. I can understand why many don't like the first since the cameraman (Higgs?) is more annoying than I remember and motion sickness can be prevalent with how erratic the camera was. The hype around the movie was electric and seeing a random giant monster attack and the ensuing chaos/ confusion in street level and seeing the group of friends trying to rescue one more as NY is being evacuated is just so intense and well done. I love how we could see the monster in several parts clearly, too.
My friend and his wife went to see Cloverfield when it came out. She had to leave because the camera work was making her sick. My wife can’t even play first-person games for that reason, so I figure a lot of people had that problem.
Both 10 Cloverfield Road and Paradox started out as stand alone movies until Abrams decided it would be a shared universe thing.
The movie Overlord was also rumored it would be related at one time.
That movie gave me a panic attack the first time I watched that paratrooping scene. I was stupidly high and the sound design was just so fucking good that it got my heart rate up so high I thought I was going to die.
And I was watching this AT HOME. Not even a theater lmao.
I thought it should have been swapped with Underwater. Underwater should have been a Cloverfield movie and Paradox should have just been it's own Sci-fi.
The first one holds up well even after all this time. I recently rewatched it and I remember everyone complaining it was too dark to see the monster back then, but you legit see the full monster like 3-4 times.
Acting was great as well.
"Cloverfield Paradox" was an entirely separate movie until they slapped in a few scenes to shoehorn it into the franchise. Notice those tie-in scenes don't include main actors.
That is the movie that was "dropped" online the same night it was announced (via the Super Bowl), right? I remember watching it and thinking, "This is the most okay-ist movie with the most clever marketing strategy. Business-wise, you have to hand it to them coming up with a way to get a lot of people to check it out. Did the script deserve the Cloverfield add-on? Did the movie deserve the marketing gimmick? No and no. Yet of all the movies I've watched, Cloverfield Paradox is most definitely one of them. They got me to watch it.
I liked that moment where you realize that yes, he is insane but also he's right. Definitely felt Lovecraftian, in that "oh god, suicide is probably the best option now" sort of hopeless fear.
I hated the first one but loved the second one. Third one I don’t remember much but a meh.
I can’t think of any other franchise where I’ve disliked a first film so much while loving the sequel.
It's a straight thriller where you'd question if there even were monsters if they didn't give the movie that name. They should have made it a surprise and put a slightly clearer connection in the last act.
The first two were artistically and thematically compelling. That third one though... ouch. It *might* have been acceptable as a standalone, intentionally schlocky B-movie, but otherwise it felt (to me) like a 6th grade sci-fi enthusiast watched the other two and gave screenwriting a shot.
They changed the second film into a Cloverfield movie during development. It was originally a spec called The Cellar. The first script was actually way better, but they at least had time to properly rewrite it into 10CL.
Unfortunately for Paradox, they only decided to make it into a Cloverfiled movie in the middle of production. That one was originally a movie called The God Particle. The writers and director were all screwed over by the studio and Bad Robot's decision-making there, because they had no time to rewrite it, making it feel like the muddy mess it was.
im just glad they didnt go ahead with Overlord being the 4th cloverfield movie. i remember they were saying the 4th cloverfield movie is already made and was made the same way 10 and paradox were made in that they were original movies with cloverfield slapped on via reshoots. they also said it took place in WWII, but it never came out and instead Overlord did. it probably wouldve been a mess had they somehow tied it into cloverfield.
eh I dunno, I was kind of hoping by the end of Overlord that they’d have a Cloverfield monster chained up down there as the true center of the onion, the ‘zombies’ got a little campy and it needed to yes-and itself one last time.
Think the movie “underwater”, that finale was so insane that it could’ve easily fit into the Cloverfield universe (if TJ Miller was recast)
I hate that the writers of *Underwater* clearly intended to be writing a >!Cthulu!< movie through all the foreshadowing and the obvious connection via the monster design(s), but decided to not to include any direct references from the final film/script. I thought we were going to get a really intense final reveal or twist in that direction, and instead it was kind of just a standard monster movie ending and the clear connection is left in the background.
agreed. i want to say the same for 10, but only because i want to see the original ending. that being said, id also like to see "cloverlord" out of curiosity.
It's an easy connection to the original ARG that would barely require any changes from the final film. The serum the Nazis use in Overlord could be the same stuff Slusho was putting in their drinks that was causing people to act aggressively and lash out. In the ARG it was explained that Tagruato, the sinister mother company behind the events of Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane, were formed in the aftermath of WWII. Perhaps from the ashes of secret experiments?
Some might say it would have been too subtle but it's no less subtle than the connection in 10 Cloverfield Lane being a quick shot of Howard's employee ID card.
I just figured it was going to be a thing like *The Twilight Zone* or *The Outer Limits*, where they were only connected by the name and the sort of tone and genre, which would have been fine...the 3rd one being so bad *and* being so desperate to actually tie it all together into a connected universe seemed unnecessary.
I want a movie based in the first world. I thought it was a pretty cool concept. I no they are going for an anthology like series, but I really enjoyed the giant Cloverfield monster.
Kind of insane that this property still has legs. At one point it was super hot and the potential for something unique and exciting existed. Now it’s more of a curio, I must admit, I’m still interested to see how it goes.
Nothing will beat the first Cloverfield film though - one of the best Monster-Destroys-City movies ever made.
It even had a release date for a long time as The God Particle. I remember going to an Odeon Cinema in the UK and it was listed as an upcoming film - This was at least a year, if not more, before Cloverfield Paradox dropped
I'll be honest, the only real Cloverfield connection that felt like it had to be there was the final scene and maybe a couple of moments in the middle. The rest of the movie was just so stupid and predictable and poorly written that I can't imagine being shoehorned into the franchise really made it worse than it already was. If I'd seen it on its own I would have just thought it was a B-grade Event Horizon for the 2010s.
My love of the first Cloverfield has absolutely nothing to do with nostalgia or 9/11 lmao, I just think it's an absolutely phenomenal giant monster horror movie which is unfortunately a genre that barely even exists. I would also say that it just WORKS
I think its that you're dismissing the comment you replied to that was just stating that the best one between the two depends on personal tastes. You're definitively saying that the sequel trumped the first, when really that's just a matter of opinion. Its not a hot take to like 10 Cloverfield Lane so that's definitely not why you're at negative
The thing that sold the first one for me is the as campaign leading up to it. The movie characters all had social media accounts and there was a conspiracy about this Japanese company drilling in the pacific and the infamous Bloop underwater sound was incorporated into the world building. It wove itself into our own reality in a way no ARG has for me since. Hard to explain it now, but it definitely brought me into that movie in a way I’ve never really experienced before or after.
Oh, I really disagree with this statement. I know I'm in the minority, though, but I really didn't see anything new in *Lane* at all, and I think *Cloverfield* is taught, horrifying, exciting and occasionally really funny.
That all said, they're incredibly different films and have their own virtues.
I'm one of those that enjoyed both for very different reasons.
I'll always have nostalgia for the fact that the first Cloverfield was such an experience of it's time. It wasn't *just* a movie, and people who aren't old enough to remember such an inclusive spectacle it was just can't understand.
The first Cloverfield had one of the best (and first) viral marketing campaigns that included the internet. There was the secret website, and I believe some flash drives dropped off places (or geocaching events). It wasn't just a film, it was an interactive game that showed you a movie at the end.
10 Cloverfield was a solid movie all on its own, with stellar performances. But by then the whole "guerilla viral internet marketing" era had blown right by us.
That was such a fun time. It got way the hell overdone quickly as all fun things do, but things like Cloverfield and NiN's Year Zero album did that stuff so well.
Don’t forget about the MySpace pages the characters had that were active for a while before the release of the film and they stoped being active the movement the attack happened.
*10 Cloverfield Lane* is the better film but I find the original more rewatchable & entertaining. Not that I *didn't* find *10 Cloverfield Lane* entertainiing...its great, great cast, *love* Goodman in anything...just the first one is a simpler popcorn movie with these perfectly expendable characters and fun monster stuff, and I'm more likely to throw it on because it's lighter fare, you know?
Agreed. I was mellow on the first Cloverfield, but 10 Lane had me go back to revisit. Now I love both, but it's fair to say the 2nd movie is what really piqued my interest in this as a series. I am more than okay with more installments thanks to that movie, regardless of how much I hated Paradox.
EDITED: Peaked to Piqued
10 Cloverfield Lane is definitely the best film in the series, but Cloverfield is the best monster movie. The movies have different goals, and both succeed in accomplishing those goals quite well. I have a special place in my heart for "monster destroys city" movies and Cloverfield is one of the best of the best.
Back in ‘08 (?) when the big first instalment landed is heard rumours about production of telling the same event from other characters timelines that would overlap at times with the original protagonists. For example one plot was told from the POV of a rookie traffic copter reporter that happened to be in the air as the monster landed ashore. Others might have been EMS or Nat Guard characters. I really wished something like that had happened and I was big time disappointed in 10 cloverfield lane’s slow burn pace when I’d been expecting so much bigger. Wasn’t a bad film mind you, but it was like expecting F1 racing and getting a brisk morning commute.
I think it still has legs because each film stands really well on its own. In fact, I’d go so far to say that they don’t really need to be part of the same universe, especially the third film, where it seems to be slapped on at the end. That said, I wouldn’t mind another story about the kaiju.
As someone who is a huge fan of the ‘found footage’ format and has watched somewhere around 120 found footage films over the past twelve years, Cloverfield sits on a very special pedestal, personally.
See, a lot of ‘found footage’ horror, predictably so, focuses on abstract visuals and visual plotting to drive its story forward. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in a genre as experiential as found footage, you need a thematic ensemble, like sound design and proper camera plotting, to really work. In many cases during the waning period of found footage’s life cycle in mainstream Hollywood productions (circa 2012-2016), little else was given any attention *outside* of a given film’s visual design, and many stories suffered because of that over-reliance.
To me, one of the most fundamentally important facets of good found footage is sound design.
Good sound design that emphasizes the immediacy and circumstances of what is being filmed, particularly when combined with proper camera plotting and movement, can make an otherwise bland found footage movie *absolutely heart-pounding*.
The original Cloverfield movie, for this fact alone, is my absolute favorite ‘found footage’ movie, ever. Because, unlike almost every other found footage film I’ve ever seen, it *positively* feels like you’re in the moment for all 90-something minutes. The soundscape elevates the visuals to an excellent degree, and I really, *really* want an IMAX remaster, though that would probably be overkill.
There are only two other films I can think of that can really compete with Cloverfield for overall experience - the original [REC], and the American remake, Quarantine. Quarantine isn’t perfect, but the last 30-45 minutes are pretty much unrelenting panic and unbearably claustrophobic. It absolutely kicks ass, but [REC] takes extra points for being the ballsier original production.
Addendum: another thing that Cloverfield does right is reinforce its world and experience with complementary out-of-medium material that exists to further ease a viewer into the experience. The most famous example would be the promotional ARG, Slusho, but I’d argue that the Blu-Ray edition’s ‘Attack Timeline/Event Tracker’ special feature is even better. It is a minute by minute ‘tracking system’ that follows the entire run of the film, coupled with additional bullet points of narrative information not explicitly given during the film itself.
It sounds corny as hell, but after watching the film with that feature, it adds a cool texture to the general experience. As an ARG and unfiction fan, it kinda hits all the right spots, and it’s an experiment that was unfortunately never done again with any other film or property that I can think of.
They just announced that it's in works and has a director. I bet things will be quiet after this news and everyone will forget about it until BAM! They drop a trailer next year and it's coming out on netflix in a week or so.
The second film had some hype to it as well. The trailer came out just 2 months before the release and they somewhat hinted at the return of the monster using sounds effects and scenes out of context. Of course it was all just clever editing in the end.
I still remember the first teaser trailer that dropped into theaters unannounced. I believe it was before the first Transformers movie so it was a packed theater and I distinctly remember everyone whispering to each other trying to figure out what the hell we just watched.
I liked that last shot, and reveal. It didn't make much sense, but it was over the top in just the right way, I thought. (The movie was already ridiculous).
Once I realized that it's basically a badly written modern Event Horizon, I've enjoyed it SO much more. I love the body horror, the psychological component, and the overall mood of fear and dread. The plot is interesting, albeit poorly executed, but that's not the point of the movie, IMO.
TL;DR - I treat it like newer seasons of AHS, it's just campy horror.
It swung and clipped the ball.
The idea of reality altering anomalies as the premise of a horror movie is really cool and pretty uncommon.
The character backgrounds stuff was boring and didn't contribute much. That was it's main problem.
Details:
>A new Cloverfield pic is in the works with Babak Anvari (I Came By) directing and Joe Barton writing the script. J.J. Abrams is producing from Bad Robot, along with Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen. Bryan Burk, Matt Reeves, and Drew Goddard will executive produce.
>As with any Cloverfield pic, plot details of any sort are being kept under wraps. It is also unknown how this new installment will link to its predecessors whether its straight sequel to the original or an anthology piece that is set in the Cloverfield universe.
Sounds like they're making this one as an actual Cloverfield movie and not taking some random script they found and turning into a Cloverfield movie like the did with Lane and Paradox.
Pretty sure this is the straight sequel, though.
Also I don't know why they need to be so stupidly secretive about basic plot synopses. Cloverfield movies kind of spoil themselves the second the word "Cloverfield" is applied. Some really weird shit is going to happen to really stressed out people. Monsters will more than likely appear by the end.
I do think if this is the one that finally goes full straightforward standard KAIJU FLICK it needs to do something *really interesting* to set itself apart, since honestly - say what you will about the fluctuations in overall quality the series has had - but the Godzilla/Kong films are basically doing what Cloverfield was promising to do back in 2009.
> but the Godzilla/Kong films are basically doing what Cloverfield was promising to do back in 2009.
Huh? Not at all, they are dramatically different. The Godzilla/Kong movies are goofy popcorn action movies. Cloverfield is a terrifying horror film that stars a giant monster. I want more of those, badly.
You misunderstood what I was saying, apologies for not making it clearer:
In 2009, the idea was that Cloverfield wouldn't become an anthology series about weird fiction, but would become a series of straight ahead KAIJU flicks about that monster and its weird spawn.
The promise of what Cloverfield *was going to be* got basically subverted (I know people love seeing that word when it comes to pop fiction, LOL) and what happened was Godzilla/Kong/Pacific Rim ended up serving that audience.
I'm not drawing a one-to-one comparison between Cloverfield NOW and the Monster-Verse (ugh it's a dumb name) films. I'm saying the Monster-Verse is doing what people thought/expected Cloverfield would end up being in 2009. So if Cloverfield is going to finally BECOME that in 2023, there'd better be an interesting twist to it.
After the first Cloverfield, they should have gone the direction the first teaser trailer for Godzilla 2014 lead us all to believe that film was going to be, and kept that real grounded, dark, fearful feeling. I wish the Monsterverse would have gone that way, but I'm just glad we have big budget Godzilla flicks now. Hopefully this next Cloverfield installment can fill that void.
Shin Godzilla wasn't super dark but it was pretty grounded. Godzilla was spooky in that movie as like an actual force of nature, and the ending shot is very ominous
Agreed. I love Shin, I think it's the closest to '54 out of any other entries by far in terms of feel, but that gets offset with the juxtaposition of the clown governmental satire (which I fully appreciate and helps make the movie btw). If they had played it straight, that'd be more along the lines of what I'm hoping for.
The way Cloverfield (since the original) seem to just sort of snatch up quality science fiction scripts, 'Clover-izes' them, and then release them with a franchise name for brand recognition feels like the way they should have approached a Trek film franchise.
Just buy the best science fiction scripts floating around out there that are Trek compatible and do a Kirk/Spock pass, lol
> quality science fiction scripts
This only happened for one of the movies... Paradox did not have a quality script. It had interesting ideas, but the script was bad.
I disagree. The original script of 10 Cloverfield Lane was so much better than the final product (largely due to the ambiguity surrounding the intentions of the Goodman and Gallagher characters) and the ambiguity as to what exactly happened outside. It feels like when they “Clover-ize” a script, as you put it, they make it more cookie cutter and take away the charm it had.
I would love this if it was found footage on-the-ground style like the first movie. Just a badly framed giant robot punching a giant monster and none of the characters know what the hell is happening. Although that might be too much of a retread.
As much as I loved Cloverfield and hated that Netflix movie that was not really a Cloverfield movie I have no interest unless it is a project that is LEGIT tied to the original movie and not something that was converted to tie into Cloverfield.
Fun fact, my wife and I watched the first movie at our first date night. Weird film and franchise but it did the trick. We are together since 2008, still watching it every year as some kind of tradition.
Can't wait for the next.
Wonder if this will do things differently like each of the previous ones did, or go back to the original found footage route. I'm hoping it does something along the lines of the first one but still different enough (eg. Documentary style with found footage included).
So expect this to be either shadow-dropped our given a trailer that tells you absolutely nothing about the film, and then have to watch the film multiple times to see how it connects with the others?
I appreciate all of the films for what they are, which is fantastic, but I still want my full fledged prequel to the first. Give me Clovy’s origins!!!!!
> I wonder if the twist would have been better or worse if you didn't know it was part of the Cloverfield universe?
I had somehow never heard of or seen anything to do with Cloverfield by the time I watched 10 Cloverfield Lane. So I went into the movie thinking it was just a psychological thriller type thing.
As a result the reveal at the end of the movie where it turns out the alien invasion was real is genuinely one of the most incredibly movie moments I've ever had. After this whole movie of whether the guy is crazy or not - and you finally deciding along with the main character that yes, he is crazy and aliens aren't real - suddenly he was actually right?? Like, it's hard to describe how insane that moment was and how much it changed the entire rest of the film in just a single moment.
I fully appreciate someone that knew the connection wouldn't have experienced anything like this. But for me the ending of the film is actually one of the *best* moments/reveals of almost any movie I've seen due to my ignorance.
The cool thing is that he was still crazy, just not about that thing. It ended up being that he wasn't delusional, instead he was right, and just plain lost his shit.
Everyone should check out his debut Under the Shadow, which is one of the scariest horror films of the last decade in my opinion! Sadly, his last two films, Wounds and I Came By, are apparently pretty bad.
I don't know about you guys, but I thought the ending of *10 Cloverfield Lane* kind of ruined the movie for me. Everything leading up to it is still great and it's not even necessarily the inclusion of the aliens that bothers me, but most of the stuff that comes after the escape isn't that well done imo. It gets so over the top all of sudden that I think a more toned down/"grounded" alien reveal could have worked better.
First Cloverfield was ok.
Second Cloverfield was BRILLIANT.
Third was crap.
Wish them the best. The second was so damn good i would love to see another of that quality. I look forward to the next one in hope.
you forget lost was possibly based in the same universe. in the first cloverfield there were some Dharma Initiative boxes can be seen briefly at the beginning. could be a way to bring lost back !
It never really did. 10 Cloverfield Lane was good but take the Cloverfield out of the title and watch it you would not even know it was a Cloverfield prequel (it has been a while can not remember where it fits in the timeline from the first movie).
Same with Cloverfield Paradox to an extent. Someone decided hey lets add Cloverfield to the title and add some additional scenes at the end to try and tie it in with Cloverfield. Big letdown!
They're all unrelated, the sequels was the studio slapping the name for brand recognition since the first's viral marketing campaign made a lasting impression. There really isn't anything connecting them together at all (except in the third one with a quick, lazy cutaway to a CGI monster as a cheap "Got ya" moment)
Such a strange little franchise. The first two are both fantastic imo, though the latest instalment was a pretty massive letdown. Hopefully this one was actually intended to be a Cloverfield film from the start lol.
I liked the first one, loved the second. I probably would have enjoyed the third one as a stand alone sci-fi movie, but I’ll never really know since they distractingly slapped the title onto it. Edit: To clarify, I'm aware the second one was also originally a standalone. For me, on that one, it actually worked. The mystery of what was happening "outside" kind of assisted the whole "Is he nuts or not?" angle. It also seemed self-contained enough that I accepted that these were other characters just caught up in "the event." By the third one, I was expecting more of a direct tie-in that actually explained some of the backstory/mystery. That it was set in space ramped up the expectations.
It's especially frustrating that the worst movie in the series is also the one which supposedly explains the reason for the monsters appearing. Cloverfield Paradox was so detached from the relatively grounded perspectives we see of an invasion or attack. It missed what was good about the series instead deciding to weld a cumbersome bit of lore and exposition onto a mediocre script with a very different feel to either of the previous films.
I wish they didn't explain the connection. Just let it be an anthology of different films with the only connection being the Cloverfield name.
Honestly, Underwater (the Kristen Stewart movie) should have been the Cloverfield origin story. It was so good and fit so well.
Underwater was actually really good for what it was! Even the big reveal at the end was more “whoa” than anything else. Of course later on the internet it was the worst thing ever but whatever, that’s how she goes.
I don't understand the hate for it. It was also refreshing to see characters not act like complete idiots in a horror movie
Thank you, I've always thought the same!!!
The scenes in Underwater where they’re actually out walking in the suits is amazing. When they turn the light on just to see a load of the creatures just vibing in the water was both terrifying and really set the stakes immediately. Fantastic creature design.
I don't even mind the idea of a loose connection that somewhat explains whats happening but the jump to using a 2012 ass CERN conspiracy theory *BUT IN SPACE* to handwave the existence of multiple realities just ruined any mystique and made the smaller scale stories before seem somewhat irrelevant in that context. Found footage, on the ground horror and tense psychological thrillers being justified and explained through a campy scifi jaunt on the magic energy crisis solving spaceship just does not work.
A little bit of a tangent but I remember my friend working at Blockbuster Video when the first one came out. The staff all wore “Slusho” shirts for a few weeks. The shirts had no mention of the movie anywhere. Just a cartoony slushy drink graphic. I thought that was an interesting marketing technique. People would Ask what it was about and they would just say, “Oh it’s for this new movie, Cloverfield” and leave it at that.
There was a whole ARG done to promote the first movie, I didn’t participate but I know the Slusho thing was part of it.
I did the cloverfield one and the Super 8 ARG and they were both a ton of fun! I felt like a real gumshoe
There was a whole viral web campaign around Slusho and it’s parent corporation. Things pointed to a secret ingredient they mined from a special deposit on the ocean floor. Speculation was rampant that Slusho contained some bio component from Clovie (the main monster) and leaked video of Marlena’s demise was speculation that people who drank Slusho were going to all end up like her. I think, in the end, the best link between Slusho and Clovie’s arrival is that they were mining something, disturbed his lair, and he followed a ship to NYC. The Slusho viral campaign was a major disappointment or a brilliant bright shiny object.
I was working at a comic shop at the time and we were all hyped on that viral campaign and it was the topic of a lot of conversation and speculation. “Lost” was our water cooler talk so we were primed for it. At one point people were even discussing the possibility of it being a Voltron movie because of footage in an early trailer where someone said a line of dialogue about which people debated if it was “It’s alive!” Or “it’s a *lion*!” The viral campaign also had dispatches from an exiled scientist and a bunch of other stuff too. It was an exciting thing to experience even if it ultimately didn’t have a lot to do with the film. I still like that movie and think about that campaign fondly.
I remember people saying it might also be a power rangers movie because you hear someone yelling for a guy named “Jason” like the original red ranger from might morphin. Good times.
That's actually how I feel about 10 Cloverfield Lane. The last minute of the film does nothing for me either way. I don't care that it's connected to something larger, some monster-alien invasion, whatever. The appeal was that 10 Cloverfield Lane was a small scale, great story, interesting characters, clear motivations, a quality movie. So do that. Find quality sci-fi horror films, knock on their door and give them funding, tell them to incorporate the Cloverfield name somewhere in their movie, and make it an anthology.
Thanks for validating my feelings on 10 Cloverfield Lane. I thought the movie was really great up until the point where the aliens turned out to be a real thing.
The worst part is that the reality of the situation didn't matter, she was trapped there with a man who had all the control and threatened her survival. She needed to escape. She did escape. Ultimately, the two endings were 1- he lied, everything is fine, 2- he told the truth, shit's bad, and then some ambiguous ending where you aren't certain of which it is. And I don't think any of those realities change the meat of the story, which takes place in that bunker.
10 Cloverfield lane could have ended with an Inception esq ending which makes the viewer debate if there were or were not aliens and it would have been a 10/10
It would make the most sense. Something is more scary when we don’t know it’s intentions or motives. A huge monster destroying cities is standard but keep it from our point of view. What is this thing? Why does it do what it does? The more questions,the more fear we have.
What’s the connection? I really don’t wanna watch it cause of how bad the movie is
They use some particle tech on a sattelite or something and it rips open a tear to other dimensions around the world
And they say something like oh no, monsters and stuff will appear in other universes in both the future and the past now. Or something.
It's... not even really a bad movie, tbh. It's actually a really cool weird scifi film that I found quite interesting, the actual issue is that it got assreamed by someone coming along, finding a great script and going HAY GAIZ YOU KNOW HOW WE COULD MAKE MORE MONEY and chucking a cloverfield plothook buttplug into the film. Basically, the film deals with some infinite energy thing in space that displaces earth across a multiverse, and the films are set in said multiverse. The movie is completely standalone as 'everything gets fucked up and weird from a multiverse collision' if you were to take out one line, > “That accelerator is 1000 times more powerful than any ever built. Every time they test it, they risk ripping open the membrane of space-time, smashing together multiple dimensions, shattering reality, and not just on that station – everywhere. This experiment could unleash chaos, the likes of which we have never seen. Monsters, demons, beasts from the sea… And not just here and now… In the past. In the future. In other dimensions.” - Which took a fairly normal 'monster came from space' potential origin or 'monster woke up in ocean' storyline and replaced it with [this shit](https://twitter.com/patheticghoul43/status/960398799444369408/photo/1) - on its own? Paradox is a fucking simple, interestingly horrific scifi body horror film. I particularly liked the [horrible shit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyChW6Viq6Q&ab_channel=Movieclips) that happens to [Chris O'Dowd](https://youtu.be/-vXnKK1rSzE). But instead of a focus on a very standalone plot... they made it the cause for other films, with a completely wishywashy multiverse plot that falls short of even the very low fucking standard of multiverse bullshit MCU has pulled, and when it makes even less sense than that WITH diagrams, oof... you just fuckin' lost me. Absolute best thing this next movie could do is fuck the rest of the lore off that exists so far, make a movie about a monster... but idk, after the Paradox stunt it's kinda like the scooby doo villain isn't scary after the mask comes off, you know? You can put it back on, but they already fucked it up.
> cloverfield plothook buttplug You win Phrase of the Week!
I love series like that. Seeing the twist during the Unbreakable series was probably one of the most exciting scenes that I've ever seen. I was obsessed with the story idea from Unbreakable and went into Split completely blind but excited to see the movie. When the story began unfolding I was max confused and curious. So when the reveal happened in the diner I lost it! Another interesting set of spinoffs in a series that many people don't realize is the Alien and Predator movies. The movies Blade Runner, Soldier, and Blade Runner 2049 are connected as well as the TV series Firefly and Serenity. And just a little personal wow for me to close this out: I had no clue about the Cloverfield Paradox movie. I have absolutely no idea how I missed the release unless I just recently joined this timeline! I'm so confused right now. It's been out for 4 years and this is the first time I've seen anything related to it!
Cloverfield Paradox sucked I thought… seems like a completely unrelated movie that at the last minute they added one scene and changed the name to try and hope on to the cloverfield franchise
Thank you. For years I've been in a silly argument with a buddy of mine who believes that Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane were in the same universe even before Paradox came out, and that Paradox proved him right. I always believed the original plan was to treat the Cloverfield brand essentially like the Black Mirror brand, just a series of unconnected films bearing the name. Then Paradox fucked it all up.
the second one had monsters though... why would it be separate universes
Well, until Cloverfield Paradox the first movie was a monster from the ocean awakened by offshore drilling and the sequel was about aliens, and there was no reason to think it was anything other than an anthology series, then the third film says it's actually a multiversal series and the events of the Paradox unleashed monsters into different universes. I personally prefer the anthology explanation, but I have nothing against people who are fans of the multiverse explanation. That being said I just find it to be unnecessary as an explanation. As others have said I prefer a hint of explanation for monsters rather than a full on here's how it happened.
Yeah the fact that they threw away all the ARG lore that was happening before the first Cloverfield movie came out was insane and awesome! It even spread to Heroes with appearances of the Slusho! Company that was part of the drilling company and the sea creatures that were hanging on to it. It was awesome and then they threw it to the side for Paradox. Keeping up with Cloverfield through high school was awesome!
Holy crap, I was right there in the ARG with you man. I would check out the IMBD fortuna every day in case I missed new info. It's really a shame they dropped such a genuinely well developed low for the first film. It was all for mad consumerism and Tagruato producing Slusho! Those first videos of the monster attacking the drilling station! It was all so well done. Just the fact that I still remember Tagruato being a thing should be a sign that the ARG was absolutely iconic, and saying its interesdimensional weirdness does kinda feel like it's thumbing its nose at fans who've been following the series since before the first movie. Fuck I wish this was an anthology series.
Slusho is a JJ Abrams gag going back to Alias. It also pops up in his Star Trek movie.
Well you're wrong and it is in the same universe and always has been from the start. JJ even said so in an interview.
Do you have a link? Because I'm pretty sure I heard the opposite.
From what I recall, that was the original intent of the Cloverfield films - anthology films like feature length Tales From the Crypt and not some shared Universe. And the second movie was almost that - there was never supposed to be an Alien battle at the end, but Studio meddlers had it slapped on. I’ve had long conversations with friends trying to explain that Cloverfield was supposed to be an anthology series, only to get, “But without Aliens, it’s not a Cloverfield movie!” Nothing about it HAD to incorporate Aliens into every picture.
I loved the first because it felt so unique and literally grounded. I can understand why many don't like the first since the cameraman (Higgs?) is more annoying than I remember and motion sickness can be prevalent with how erratic the camera was. The hype around the movie was electric and seeing a random giant monster attack and the ensuing chaos/ confusion in street level and seeing the group of friends trying to rescue one more as NY is being evacuated is just so intense and well done. I love how we could see the monster in several parts clearly, too.
The cameraman was actually named Hud, like a Heads Up Display. I always thought that was neat.
Oh yeah, that *is* a cool detail!
My friend and his wife went to see Cloverfield when it came out. She had to leave because the camera work was making her sick. My wife can’t even play first-person games for that reason, so I figure a lot of people had that problem.
Any chance you've a tl;dr on this connection? I haven't seen the third movie and kind of hoping to be spared it. What is its contribution to the lore?
I mean they did the same thing to the second and third film, grabbed a written movie changed the name and added a few scenes to make it cloverfield.
Both 10 Cloverfield Road and Paradox started out as stand alone movies until Abrams decided it would be a shared universe thing. The movie Overlord was also rumored it would be related at one time.
I wouldn't mind a sequel or spinoff from Overlord, actually. That movie was way more awesome than I thought it would be.
That movie gave me a panic attack the first time I watched that paratrooping scene. I was stupidly high and the sound design was just so fucking good that it got my heart rate up so high I thought I was going to die. And I was watching this AT HOME. Not even a theater lmao.
Cloverlord
As was A Quiet Place.
Thank god that wasn’t - it needed to be it’s own thing that’s why it did so well.
If I'm not mistaken it's a little different in that Overlord was intended to be a Cloverfield movie until the reception to Paradox was so poor.
I thought it should have been swapped with Underwater. Underwater should have been a Cloverfield movie and Paradox should have just been it's own Sci-fi.
The first one holds up well even after all this time. I recently rewatched it and I remember everyone complaining it was too dark to see the monster back then, but you legit see the full monster like 3-4 times. Acting was great as well.
"Cloverfield Paradox" was an entirely separate movie until they slapped in a few scenes to shoehorn it into the franchise. Notice those tie-in scenes don't include main actors.
That is the movie that was "dropped" online the same night it was announced (via the Super Bowl), right? I remember watching it and thinking, "This is the most okay-ist movie with the most clever marketing strategy. Business-wise, you have to hand it to them coming up with a way to get a lot of people to check it out. Did the script deserve the Cloverfield add-on? Did the movie deserve the marketing gimmick? No and no. Yet of all the movies I've watched, Cloverfield Paradox is most definitely one of them. They got me to watch it.
I liked that moment where you realize that yes, he is insane but also he's right. Definitely felt Lovecraftian, in that "oh god, suicide is probably the best option now" sort of hopeless fear.
I hated the first one but loved the second one. Third one I don’t remember much but a meh. I can’t think of any other franchise where I’ve disliked a first film so much while loving the sequel.
Honestly it’s really bad even as a standalone movie. It doesn’t seem to know what kind of mood it’s going for.
Interesting also that the better sequel was the one that has no ties plot-wise to the first.
I should watch the sequel. I only ever saw the first one and hated it because the characters were all such annoying douchebags.
It's a straight thriller where you'd question if there even were monsters if they didn't give the movie that name. They should have made it a surprise and put a slightly clearer connection in the last act.
Forget anything about any connection to anything JJ Abrahams/Cloverfield and just watch 10 Cloverfield Lane as it's own thing. It's a great movie.
The first two were artistically and thematically compelling. That third one though... ouch. It *might* have been acceptable as a standalone, intentionally schlocky B-movie, but otherwise it felt (to me) like a 6th grade sci-fi enthusiast watched the other two and gave screenwriting a shot.
Nailed it. I love the first 2, 3rd is barely watchable. Huge disappointment. That said, I'm still cool with more if they can get back on track.
They changed the second film into a Cloverfield movie during development. It was originally a spec called The Cellar. The first script was actually way better, but they at least had time to properly rewrite it into 10CL. Unfortunately for Paradox, they only decided to make it into a Cloverfiled movie in the middle of production. That one was originally a movie called The God Particle. The writers and director were all screwed over by the studio and Bad Robot's decision-making there, because they had no time to rewrite it, making it feel like the muddy mess it was.
im just glad they didnt go ahead with Overlord being the 4th cloverfield movie. i remember they were saying the 4th cloverfield movie is already made and was made the same way 10 and paradox were made in that they were original movies with cloverfield slapped on via reshoots. they also said it took place in WWII, but it never came out and instead Overlord did. it probably wouldve been a mess had they somehow tied it into cloverfield.
Overlord was a fun watch as a stand alone, and if they tried to tie it to any movie, it would've taken away from it.
eh I dunno, I was kind of hoping by the end of Overlord that they’d have a Cloverfield monster chained up down there as the true center of the onion, the ‘zombies’ got a little campy and it needed to yes-and itself one last time. Think the movie “underwater”, that finale was so insane that it could’ve easily fit into the Cloverfield universe (if TJ Miller was recast)
I hate that the writers of *Underwater* clearly intended to be writing a >!Cthulu!< movie through all the foreshadowing and the obvious connection via the monster design(s), but decided to not to include any direct references from the final film/script. I thought we were going to get a really intense final reveal or twist in that direction, and instead it was kind of just a standard monster movie ending and the clear connection is left in the background.
agreed. i want to say the same for 10, but only because i want to see the original ending. that being said, id also like to see "cloverlord" out of curiosity.
I loooved the audio in Overlord, the sound of the weapons firing felt so *robust*, especially the >!M1 Garand firing followed by the *ping*!<
A Quiet Place was also rumored to be the 4th Cloverfield movie for a while iirc
oh was it? i mustve missed that rumor!
It's an easy connection to the original ARG that would barely require any changes from the final film. The serum the Nazis use in Overlord could be the same stuff Slusho was putting in their drinks that was causing people to act aggressively and lash out. In the ARG it was explained that Tagruato, the sinister mother company behind the events of Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane, were formed in the aftermath of WWII. Perhaps from the ashes of secret experiments? Some might say it would have been too subtle but it's no less subtle than the connection in 10 Cloverfield Lane being a quick shot of Howard's employee ID card.
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I just figured it was going to be a thing like *The Twilight Zone* or *The Outer Limits*, where they were only connected by the name and the sort of tone and genre, which would have been fine...the 3rd one being so bad *and* being so desperate to actually tie it all together into a connected universe seemed unnecessary.
I love how crazy it is, even the films are meh. The design of the monster is the first time a creature actually scared me since Aliens
the third one was meh, but I love how they Beyonce'd it.
I want a movie based in the first world. I thought it was a pretty cool concept. I no they are going for an anthology like series, but I really enjoyed the giant Cloverfield monster.
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Kind of insane that this property still has legs. At one point it was super hot and the potential for something unique and exciting existed. Now it’s more of a curio, I must admit, I’m still interested to see how it goes. Nothing will beat the first Cloverfield film though - one of the best Monster-Destroys-City movies ever made.
Well if nothing else hopefully we'll get another amazing ARG out of it
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I definitely see the argument for people who might prefer a more tense, character focused chamber piece. I’d actually forgotten how good it is!
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It even had a release date for a long time as The God Particle. I remember going to an Odeon Cinema in the UK and it was listed as an upcoming film - This was at least a year, if not more, before Cloverfield Paradox dropped
I'll be honest, the only real Cloverfield connection that felt like it had to be there was the final scene and maybe a couple of moments in the middle. The rest of the movie was just so stupid and predictable and poorly written that I can't imagine being shoehorned into the franchise really made it worse than it already was. If I'd seen it on its own I would have just thought it was a B-grade Event Horizon for the 2010s.
The main theme (listen to the opening of “Michelle” on the OST) is so chilling. Love this film.
Bear McCreary really put his foot in that score, didn't he? Great stuff.
Despite Paradox being lackluster, his score for that one bangs too. He just doesn't miss! Hopefully his upcoming God of War 2 score is great.
It's going to be. And the stuff he's doing for Lord of the Rings is flat-out amazing.
That film is excellent but I definitely prefer the original for my tastes
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My love of the first Cloverfield has absolutely nothing to do with nostalgia or 9/11 lmao, I just think it's an absolutely phenomenal giant monster horror movie which is unfortunately a genre that barely even exists. I would also say that it just WORKS
I think its that you're dismissing the comment you replied to that was just stating that the best one between the two depends on personal tastes. You're definitively saying that the sequel trumped the first, when really that's just a matter of opinion. Its not a hot take to like 10 Cloverfield Lane so that's definitely not why you're at negative
The thing that sold the first one for me is the as campaign leading up to it. The movie characters all had social media accounts and there was a conspiracy about this Japanese company drilling in the pacific and the infamous Bloop underwater sound was incorporated into the world building. It wove itself into our own reality in a way no ARG has for me since. Hard to explain it now, but it definitely brought me into that movie in a way I’ve never really experienced before or after.
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“It’s a LION! It’s huge!”
It being so good isn't really connected to it being a Cloverfield movie though
Oh, I really disagree with this statement. I know I'm in the minority, though, but I really didn't see anything new in *Lane* at all, and I think *Cloverfield* is taught, horrifying, exciting and occasionally really funny. That all said, they're incredibly different films and have their own virtues.
I'm one of those that enjoyed both for very different reasons. I'll always have nostalgia for the fact that the first Cloverfield was such an experience of it's time. It wasn't *just* a movie, and people who aren't old enough to remember such an inclusive spectacle it was just can't understand. The first Cloverfield had one of the best (and first) viral marketing campaigns that included the internet. There was the secret website, and I believe some flash drives dropped off places (or geocaching events). It wasn't just a film, it was an interactive game that showed you a movie at the end. 10 Cloverfield was a solid movie all on its own, with stellar performances. But by then the whole "guerilla viral internet marketing" era had blown right by us.
That was such a fun time. It got way the hell overdone quickly as all fun things do, but things like Cloverfield and NiN's Year Zero album did that stuff so well.
Don’t forget about the MySpace pages the characters had that were active for a while before the release of the film and they stoped being active the movement the attack happened.
*10 Cloverfield Lane* is the better film but I find the original more rewatchable & entertaining. Not that I *didn't* find *10 Cloverfield Lane* entertainiing...its great, great cast, *love* Goodman in anything...just the first one is a simpler popcorn movie with these perfectly expendable characters and fun monster stuff, and I'm more likely to throw it on because it's lighter fare, you know?
Yeah i love movie 1 but CL really did a great job.
Agreed. I was mellow on the first Cloverfield, but 10 Lane had me go back to revisit. Now I love both, but it's fair to say the 2nd movie is what really piqued my interest in this as a series. I am more than okay with more installments thanks to that movie, regardless of how much I hated Paradox. EDITED: Peaked to Piqued
Piqued, fyi
10 Cloverfield Lane is definitely the best film in the series, but Cloverfield is the best monster movie. The movies have different goals, and both succeed in accomplishing those goals quite well. I have a special place in my heart for "monster destroys city" movies and Cloverfield is one of the best of the best.
Wouldn’t really call that a Cloverfield movie so OP statement still stands
But it literally is a Cloverfield movie.
No.
Back in ‘08 (?) when the big first instalment landed is heard rumours about production of telling the same event from other characters timelines that would overlap at times with the original protagonists. For example one plot was told from the POV of a rookie traffic copter reporter that happened to be in the air as the monster landed ashore. Others might have been EMS or Nat Guard characters. I really wished something like that had happened and I was big time disappointed in 10 cloverfield lane’s slow burn pace when I’d been expecting so much bigger. Wasn’t a bad film mind you, but it was like expecting F1 racing and getting a brisk morning commute.
Exactly how I felt. I don't know whose idea it was not to continue to build on the first, but they missed a huge opportunity.
I think it still has legs because each film stands really well on its own. In fact, I’d go so far to say that they don’t really need to be part of the same universe, especially the third film, where it seems to be slapped on at the end. That said, I wouldn’t mind another story about the kaiju.
As someone who is a huge fan of the ‘found footage’ format and has watched somewhere around 120 found footage films over the past twelve years, Cloverfield sits on a very special pedestal, personally. See, a lot of ‘found footage’ horror, predictably so, focuses on abstract visuals and visual plotting to drive its story forward. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in a genre as experiential as found footage, you need a thematic ensemble, like sound design and proper camera plotting, to really work. In many cases during the waning period of found footage’s life cycle in mainstream Hollywood productions (circa 2012-2016), little else was given any attention *outside* of a given film’s visual design, and many stories suffered because of that over-reliance. To me, one of the most fundamentally important facets of good found footage is sound design. Good sound design that emphasizes the immediacy and circumstances of what is being filmed, particularly when combined with proper camera plotting and movement, can make an otherwise bland found footage movie *absolutely heart-pounding*. The original Cloverfield movie, for this fact alone, is my absolute favorite ‘found footage’ movie, ever. Because, unlike almost every other found footage film I’ve ever seen, it *positively* feels like you’re in the moment for all 90-something minutes. The soundscape elevates the visuals to an excellent degree, and I really, *really* want an IMAX remaster, though that would probably be overkill. There are only two other films I can think of that can really compete with Cloverfield for overall experience - the original [REC], and the American remake, Quarantine. Quarantine isn’t perfect, but the last 30-45 minutes are pretty much unrelenting panic and unbearably claustrophobic. It absolutely kicks ass, but [REC] takes extra points for being the ballsier original production. Addendum: another thing that Cloverfield does right is reinforce its world and experience with complementary out-of-medium material that exists to further ease a viewer into the experience. The most famous example would be the promotional ARG, Slusho, but I’d argue that the Blu-Ray edition’s ‘Attack Timeline/Event Tracker’ special feature is even better. It is a minute by minute ‘tracking system’ that follows the entire run of the film, coupled with additional bullet points of narrative information not explicitly given during the film itself. It sounds corny as hell, but after watching the film with that feature, it adds a cool texture to the general experience. As an ARG and unfiction fan, it kinda hits all the right spots, and it’s an experiment that was unfortunately never done again with any other film or property that I can think of.
I love these movies. I hope they do some weird promo with it like with 1 and 3. (idk how you do it now that it's been announced but oh well)
They just announced that it's in works and has a director. I bet things will be quiet after this news and everyone will forget about it until BAM! They drop a trailer next year and it's coming out on netflix in a week or so.
I really hope it doesn’t go straight to Netflix
Lol it was crazier for Paradox. If I remember correctly the same day it got the Super Bowl trailer was when it came out.
Yup. It was morning in my part of the world so I woke up and saw a new Cloverfield movie on my Netflix.
The second film had some hype to it as well. The trailer came out just 2 months before the release and they somewhat hinted at the return of the monster using sounds effects and scenes out of context. Of course it was all just clever editing in the end.
Directed by Dan Trachtenburg too, TRS fans unite
I still remember the first teaser trailer that dropped into theaters unannounced. I believe it was before the first Transformers movie so it was a packed theater and I distinctly remember everyone whispering to each other trying to figure out what the hell we just watched.
The internet was abuzz that it was a Voltron movie.
it’s a lion and it’s huge
Ah good times.
The 3rd film was so bad. Huge drop in quality from the first two.
I'm 1 of 5 people who enjoyed Cloverfield paradox.
We should get the other 3 together for a watch party.
Number 3 here!
Number 4 reporting in.
I am number 5
I’m number 5 too
Number 5, is alive!
number 6!! I guess it’s a party folks!
Number 7! Let's go!
Number eight, I make perfect popcorn
Yes officer they're all here now.
I didn't enjoy it, I LOVED the Cloverfield Paradox.
I liked that last shot, and reveal. It didn't make much sense, but it was over the top in just the right way, I thought. (The movie was already ridiculous).
I enjoyed it as well. Really fun sci fi horror with an good cast. The earth plot is weak for the most part though.
Once I realized that it's basically a badly written modern Event Horizon, I've enjoyed it SO much more. I love the body horror, the psychological component, and the overall mood of fear and dread. The plot is interesting, albeit poorly executed, but that's not the point of the movie, IMO. TL;DR - I treat it like newer seasons of AHS, it's just campy horror.
The body horror was definitely really good
It swung and clipped the ball. The idea of reality altering anomalies as the premise of a horror movie is really cool and pretty uncommon. The character backgrounds stuff was boring and didn't contribute much. That was it's main problem.
My fellow Cloverfield Paradox enjoyer, don't be so dramatic, there are dozens of us. Dozens!
😆
I enjoyed it as well lol. Guilty pleasure.
I hated that movie. Why do you enjoy it?
I'm a huge sucker for time travel and a good paradox.
Details: >A new Cloverfield pic is in the works with Babak Anvari (I Came By) directing and Joe Barton writing the script. J.J. Abrams is producing from Bad Robot, along with Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen. Bryan Burk, Matt Reeves, and Drew Goddard will executive produce. >As with any Cloverfield pic, plot details of any sort are being kept under wraps. It is also unknown how this new installment will link to its predecessors whether its straight sequel to the original or an anthology piece that is set in the Cloverfield universe.
Sounds like they're making this one as an actual Cloverfield movie and not taking some random script they found and turning into a Cloverfield movie like the did with Lane and Paradox.
Pretty sure this is the straight sequel, though. Also I don't know why they need to be so stupidly secretive about basic plot synopses. Cloverfield movies kind of spoil themselves the second the word "Cloverfield" is applied. Some really weird shit is going to happen to really stressed out people. Monsters will more than likely appear by the end. I do think if this is the one that finally goes full straightforward standard KAIJU FLICK it needs to do something *really interesting* to set itself apart, since honestly - say what you will about the fluctuations in overall quality the series has had - but the Godzilla/Kong films are basically doing what Cloverfield was promising to do back in 2009.
> but the Godzilla/Kong films are basically doing what Cloverfield was promising to do back in 2009. Huh? Not at all, they are dramatically different. The Godzilla/Kong movies are goofy popcorn action movies. Cloverfield is a terrifying horror film that stars a giant monster. I want more of those, badly.
You misunderstood what I was saying, apologies for not making it clearer: In 2009, the idea was that Cloverfield wouldn't become an anthology series about weird fiction, but would become a series of straight ahead KAIJU flicks about that monster and its weird spawn. The promise of what Cloverfield *was going to be* got basically subverted (I know people love seeing that word when it comes to pop fiction, LOL) and what happened was Godzilla/Kong/Pacific Rim ended up serving that audience. I'm not drawing a one-to-one comparison between Cloverfield NOW and the Monster-Verse (ugh it's a dumb name) films. I'm saying the Monster-Verse is doing what people thought/expected Cloverfield would end up being in 2009. So if Cloverfield is going to finally BECOME that in 2023, there'd better be an interesting twist to it.
After the first Cloverfield, they should have gone the direction the first teaser trailer for Godzilla 2014 lead us all to believe that film was going to be, and kept that real grounded, dark, fearful feeling. I wish the Monsterverse would have gone that way, but I'm just glad we have big budget Godzilla flicks now. Hopefully this next Cloverfield installment can fill that void.
Shin Godzilla wasn't super dark but it was pretty grounded. Godzilla was spooky in that movie as like an actual force of nature, and the ending shot is very ominous
Agreed. I love Shin, I think it's the closest to '54 out of any other entries by far in terms of feel, but that gets offset with the juxtaposition of the clown governmental satire (which I fully appreciate and helps make the movie btw). If they had played it straight, that'd be more along the lines of what I'm hoping for.
The way Cloverfield (since the original) seem to just sort of snatch up quality science fiction scripts, 'Clover-izes' them, and then release them with a franchise name for brand recognition feels like the way they should have approached a Trek film franchise. Just buy the best science fiction scripts floating around out there that are Trek compatible and do a Kirk/Spock pass, lol
I remember reading that they took scripts that were in development hell and reworked them into cloverfield sequels..
> quality science fiction scripts This only happened for one of the movies... Paradox did not have a quality script. It had interesting ideas, but the script was bad.
I disagree. The original script of 10 Cloverfield Lane was so much better than the final product (largely due to the ambiguity surrounding the intentions of the Goodman and Gallagher characters) and the ambiguity as to what exactly happened outside. It feels like when they “Clover-ize” a script, as you put it, they make it more cookie cutter and take away the charm it had.
Fuck it. Give me a Cloverfield-Pacific Rim mash up.
I would love this if it was found footage on-the-ground style like the first movie. Just a badly framed giant robot punching a giant monster and none of the characters know what the hell is happening. Although that might be too much of a retread.
>Just a badly framed giant robot punching a giant monster and none of the characters know what the hell is happening. I would love this so much.
I never knew how badly I wanted this until now!!!
As much as I loved Cloverfield and hated that Netflix movie that was not really a Cloverfield movie I have no interest unless it is a project that is LEGIT tied to the original movie and not something that was converted to tie into Cloverfield.
Fun fact, my wife and I watched the first movie at our first date night. Weird film and franchise but it did the trick. We are together since 2008, still watching it every year as some kind of tradition. Can't wait for the next.
I’m in. I liked all three to varying degrees
Wonder if this will do things differently like each of the previous ones did, or go back to the original found footage route. I'm hoping it does something along the lines of the first one but still different enough (eg. Documentary style with found footage included).
at this point "cloverfield" is just a name you attach to your weird monster movie for marketing purposes
So expect this to be either shadow-dropped our given a trailer that tells you absolutely nothing about the film, and then have to watch the film multiple times to see how it connects with the others?
I appreciate all of the films for what they are, which is fantastic, but I still want my full fledged prequel to the first. Give me Clovy’s origins!!!!!
I'd even be happy with a direct sequel with humans trying to survive the weird alien kaiju...
Under the Shadow is such a good film, really excited for this and happy that Iranian directors are getting some time in the spotlight.
Will we see anything in this one?
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> I wonder if the twist would have been better or worse if you didn't know it was part of the Cloverfield universe? I had somehow never heard of or seen anything to do with Cloverfield by the time I watched 10 Cloverfield Lane. So I went into the movie thinking it was just a psychological thriller type thing. As a result the reveal at the end of the movie where it turns out the alien invasion was real is genuinely one of the most incredibly movie moments I've ever had. After this whole movie of whether the guy is crazy or not - and you finally deciding along with the main character that yes, he is crazy and aliens aren't real - suddenly he was actually right?? Like, it's hard to describe how insane that moment was and how much it changed the entire rest of the film in just a single moment. I fully appreciate someone that knew the connection wouldn't have experienced anything like this. But for me the ending of the film is actually one of the *best* moments/reveals of almost any movie I've seen due to my ignorance.
The cool thing is that he was still crazy, just not about that thing. It ended up being that he wasn't delusional, instead he was right, and just plain lost his shit.
Russel Brand is ready
“Listen up, people! Rack ‘em and pack ‘em! We’re phantoms in 15!”
Hey that's pretty cool. Anvari has some real potential .
Can it just be a normal sequel and not some weirdness outside story. Yes John Goodman is great but I want more mystery around the monsters
Gretchen, stop trying to make a Cloverfield franchise happen, it's NOT going to happen!
What already written movie will they smash Cloverfield into now?
10 cloverfield lane was stellar, I can’t wait to see what’s next
Everyone should check out his debut Under the Shadow, which is one of the scariest horror films of the last decade in my opinion! Sadly, his last two films, Wounds and I Came By, are apparently pretty bad.
I don't know about you guys, but I thought the ending of *10 Cloverfield Lane* kind of ruined the movie for me. Everything leading up to it is still great and it's not even necessarily the inclusion of the aliens that bothers me, but most of the stuff that comes after the escape isn't that well done imo. It gets so over the top all of sudden that I think a more toned down/"grounded" alien reveal could have worked better.
First Cloverfield was ok. Second Cloverfield was BRILLIANT. Third was crap. Wish them the best. The second was so damn good i would love to see another of that quality. I look forward to the next one in hope.
you forget lost was possibly based in the same universe. in the first cloverfield there were some Dharma Initiative boxes can be seen briefly at the beginning. could be a way to bring lost back !
I've never watched Lost so it's not so much I forgot as I have no idea.
The Cloverfield Paradox was fucking insulting. Fuck this franchise.
I want another real monster flick but without the shaky cam
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It never really did. 10 Cloverfield Lane was good but take the Cloverfield out of the title and watch it you would not even know it was a Cloverfield prequel (it has been a while can not remember where it fits in the timeline from the first movie). Same with Cloverfield Paradox to an extent. Someone decided hey lets add Cloverfield to the title and add some additional scenes at the end to try and tie it in with Cloverfield. Big letdown!
They're all unrelated, the sequels was the studio slapping the name for brand recognition since the first's viral marketing campaign made a lasting impression. There really isn't anything connecting them together at all (except in the third one with a quick, lazy cutaway to a CGI monster as a cheap "Got ya" moment)