Why I Love Cloverfield

There is a lot of nonsense in Cloverfield. Beyond the fact that a giant alien monster creature lands in Manhattan and trashes the entire city, there are also a great deal of puzzling narrative missteps. The story might have its flaws and the characters are not much to write home about but this is a film where style is king and wow is it a breathless ride.

Director Matt Reeves created something truly visceral, immediate and immersive. If a monster did land in Manhattan and someone was there to film it, this is what it would be like. It clearly borrows (some would argue highly insensitively) from the horrific amateur videos of 9/11 that were broadcast on the news, in documentaries and have now found their homes on YouTube. The destruction of buildings and iconic landmarks, dust covered streets and people, and the emergency services seeming completely out of their depth are all recognisable elements from the handheld home videos of people who grabbed their cameras on September 11th 2001.

Found footage films often have a problem with believability despite their aesthetics being designed to convince you of their veracity. The main problem is that no one believes that a character would keep filming when faced with imminent danger and especially the very real prospect of their own demise. However, this is another area where Cloverfield excels. In giving the duty of camera operating to funny guy Hud, the audience can totally buy in to the idea that this guy just wants to keep filming. First he is reluctant when offered the job of documenting the leaving party of Rob. Then he quickly finds it fun and assumes the responsibility that has been handed to him. Even after the party is rudely interrupted by a giant monster tearing off the head of the Statue of Liberty and throwing it down a street, Hud decides it is still his duty to document the events in which he finds himself a participant.

His continued filming is completely believable. In light of all the videos from 9/11, we know that people desire to film and share this kind of extraordinary footage. Like Hud says, people WILL want to see how it all went down. His reactions from behind the camera feel real. He screams, repeats his cries to God over and over again, and his confusion and fear are constantly palpable. His filming is not the work of a calm professional but instead the haphazard flailing of a terrified individual.

Like Heather from The Blair Witch Project who was determined to keep making that goddam documentary even when she was losing her mind, (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!!) Hud keeps filming right until his death. His last surviving friends realise the importance of the camera in capturing their legacy and record their last messages to the world before being blown to smithereens. It's a wonderfully bleak ending that leaves the audience to decide if the bombing actually managed to kill the monster. In a final bit of bitter irony, the previously recorded Coney Island day trip of lovers Rob and Beth flashes up on the screen as Beth says to camera 'I had a good day'. If you look carefully, you will see something crash into the ocean in the distance. It's a perfect bit of non-linear storytelling that ends the film on a deeply sad note (even if you don't care much for the hipster characters) by taking us back to the beginning of the story just as all is lost.

For all its flaws, I love Cloverfield nearly as much as I love The Blair Witch Project. Forget any versions of Godzilla, Cloverfield is the definitive monster movie of our generation.

More from I Love That Film:

Buy my book on The Blair Witch Project

Deconstructing Cinema: Cloverfield

Characters With Cameras 

Results for the Best Found Footage Film 

New York at The Movies

I Love That Blog Post #12

Check out some of the stuff I've been reading and enjoying recently!

The Droid You’re Looking For asks are horror films actually scary and does it even matter?  http://tdylf.com/2012/08/27/are-horror-films-actually-scary-does-it-even-matter/

Ever wondered why superhero movies can be so unsatisfying.  The Movie Blog has some answers http://them0vieblog.com/2012/08/27/man-vs-superman-chronicles-climax-the-scale-of-superhuman-violence/

Cinematic Corner highly rates one of my favourites, Monster, starring Charlize Theron http://cinematiccorner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/monster.html

The Kid in the Front Row talks about the lack of diversity of Hollywood’s output http://www.kidinthefrontrow.com/2012/09/cinema-is-about-hearing-from-all-voices.html

Front Room Cinema launches an attack on trailers for trailers http://www.frontroomcinema.com/midweek-mumble-does-our-marketing-need-more-marketing/

Be sure to check them out!  Happy reading!

Fascinating Faces: Looper, Lawless and Gangster Squad

I've seen some fascinating faces in trailers over the last few weeks.  Three stars many of us know and love, still recognizable but undeniably transformed.  I am stunned by these faces and already itching to see more of the performances.  But how much of my excitement is just down to the make up and how much is due to the men behind the masks?

I offer you exhibits A, B and C as evidence.

Exhibit A: Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Looper

The Holly wood Reporter um... reported that 'Thanks to three hours in the makeup chair each morning, the actor transformed into a younger version of Bruce Willis for the role – in which the duo plays the same character at different ages.'

If you're not convinced about the transformation or just sad to see the handsome JGL mutilated, check out this little video I found on YouTube for a close comparison of the two actors.



Exhibit B: Guy Pearce in Lawless

Now I'm not sure what they've done to Pearce's face here but watching the trailer suggests this is going to be another fantastic performance to look out for.  In fact I don't even think this is down to make up.  Instead I think it's a combination of Pearce's slicked back hair, accent and tone of voice and most of all the faces he pulls in the trailer below.  Some might say this is bordering on OTT but I can't wait to see this performance.



Exhibit C: Sean Penn in The Gangster Squad

MTV says: 'A centerpiece of the trailer, it's hard to miss Sean Penn even under all of that makeup... The trailer gives lots of screen time to Penn, and when you also consider the prosthetics on his face, it's not hard to imagine that Warner Bros. would make a Best Supporting Actor push for him come Oscar season'.

He looks almost like something grotesque out of Dick Tracy.  But it's not just the make up and prosthetics, Penn seems totally transformed here.  It's another performance that looks incredible and will no doubt be a lot of fun to watch.



So are we in for a treat with these three or what?  And how much of these performances will come down to the physically transformed faces of the actors and how much is down to their acting skills.  It's a question that has bugged me ever since seeing one of my favourite performances ever on screen.  No doubt aided by magnificent make-up, but also a testament to the incredible talent of Charlize Theron, if you haven't seen Monster, I highly recommend it.  Never has a star been so unrecognizable and so brilliantly lost within a real-life character.

Scraping the Bottom of the Found Footage Barrel

In my attempts to watch every found footage horror ever made, I have started to really stare down into the deep, dark abyss of straight-to-dvd clag.  Hopefully there will come a point where I can stop this masochistic punishment as sometimes it feels like I'm battering my own head with a video camera and then forcing myself to watch it back like some extreme form of happy slapping.

On the bright side, I think in January I've gotten through the worst and in February I can take pleasure in recent success stories Apollo 18 and The Troll Hunter.

But for now here's a round up of the found footage horrors I watched last month:

The St. Francisville Experiment (Ted Nicolaou, 2000)

 

Notable for being the first I’ve seen where (SPOILER) the characters with cameras actually survive.  Other than that, adds very little to the sub-genre.  Stuck in a house where past atrocities took place, the completely unmemorable characters are terrorized by spooky goings-on that aren’t that scary.  

Monster (Erik Estenberg, 2007)

Worst film I watched this month and for that matter, in quite a long time.  I hate to criticise but I can't believe that much effort actually went into this one at all.  Dreadful, penniless attempt to re-create Cloverfields’ thrills with no budget, even less story, passable acting and virtually no effects shots.  Something attacks Japan and two documentary makers stumble about the city not really filming anything of any importance or significance until they finally bumble into an anti-climactic ending.

Evil Things (Dominic Perez, 2009)

Students go to a house in the middle of nowhere for a birthday bash but are followed by a mysterious van.  This one actually has some creepy moments and features a nice addition to the sub-genre in that the killer is also using a camera to capture the events from his own perspective.  The character with camera antics feel very real and natural and the unseen menace provides plenty of suspense.  It’s always good when you actually want the characters to survive and not just get killed so all the bloody screaming and shaky camera will stop.

Paranormal Entity 2 (Anthony Fankhauser, 2010)

Apart from the unnecessary tits and limited acting abilities of some of the cast, this sequel from the cheapo rip-off studio Asylum is pretty good.  When a ghost-hunting TV crew set up their cameras in the house of infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy, they capture everything they hoped for and more.  Like with the Paranormal Activity films, a little special effects go a long way and the use of multiple cameras in this film keep the action interesting and eliminate the need for characters to keep justifying their continuing filming.  The use of a thermal camera adds thrills and the inclusion of Gacy as the ghostly presence adds a real sense of menace to proceedings.  Recommended for found footage fans (if there are any left).

Best of the bunch: Evil Things and Paranormal Entity 2.  DISCLAIMER: That's not a recommendation, just an observation.  Has anyone else seen any of these? 

Great start to the year

January had 31 days and I'm proud to say that I managed a very pleasing 26 films this month.  4 found footage horrors for my PhD, 3 watched on a plane to New York, 3 at preview screenings, 2 documentaries, only 4 in the cinema, 3 classics, 1 animated.  Stay tuned in the next few days for a more detailed breakdown.  For now, here's my best and worst of the month:


Best of the month:

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird, 2011)

Better than Bond, better than Bourne.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ethan Hunt could take out Batman and The Avengers after watching this.  After uninspiring efforts from De Palma, Woo and Abrams, finally this is an impossible mission to truly savour.  Cruise control is switched off as the foot is placed firmly on the gas for mad stunts, huge explosions, great gadgets and one of the biggest stars in the world hanging off the biggest building in the world.  Pegg, Renner and Patton are welcome additions, but Cruise and his super spy Hunt keep the most nail-biting and incredible set-pieces focused.  And Hunt is really off the chain this time.  Best action movie of 2011?  Mission Accomplished.

Worst of the month:

Monster (Erik Estenberg, 2007)

Dreadful, penniless attempt to re-create Cloverfield's thrills with no budget, even less story, passable acting and virtually no effects shots.  Something attacks Japan and two documentary makers stumble about the city not really filming anything of any importance or significance until they finally bumble into an anti-climactic ending.  Avoid like the plague.