'10 Cloverfield Lane' finds nail-biting horror in an apocalyptic safe haven
2008's Cloverfield wasn't actually about a monster rampaging across New York City. It was about the crumbling of social order, captured through the lens of a street-level schmuck's camcorder.
Similarly, 10 Cloverfield Lane isn't really about the apocalypse. It takes place in a world that may be ending -- but the film's focused instead on the underground bunker of a doomsday prepper conspiracy theorist who may or may not have a dark past (but probably does).
You May Also Like
Disaster movies tend to consider the big picture, the macro. Cloverfield stories instead focus on micro-horrors. They're about the other monsters that surface when the world goes to hell.
And in 10 Cloverfield Lane, it's John Goodman's mix of disarming cheer and quiet menace that will leave you trembling with fear.
Goodman plays Howard, the guy raving on the Internet about imminent Martian invasions. His size and heavy, wheezing breaths give the impression of a steam locomotive given human form, but there's also an unexpected gentleness to him.
You root for Howard not to be the bad guy here, even as mounting evidence suggests he is. The guy's got issues, sure -- but he also saw the apocalypse coming and planned accordingly. What is "crazy," anyway, when it also turns out to be right?
Either way, Howard certainly leaves a poor first impression on Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) -- who wakes up after a car crash to find herself chained to the drab, concrete wall of Howard's bunker. He claims to have saved her after spotting an overturned car on the side of the road.
Michelle is an aspiring fashion designer and, for reasons that eventually become clear, a lifelong coward. She was in the midst of running out on her fiancé when the world started to end.
Running is also her first instinct as the reality of where she is and why she's there -- according to Howard -- sets in. Michelle doesn't believe her apparent captor, despite corroboration from his bunker-mate Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.).
Howard says that he hired Emmett to help him build this hidey-hole; Emmett turned to Howard when he saw the end coming with his own eyes. He's there by choice, says Emmett, so you know he's on the up-and-up.
Right?
10 Cloverfield Lane wields tension like a skilled surgeon holding a scalpel.
10 Cloverfield Lane wields tension like a skilled surgeon holding a scalpel. Every scene is punctuated by a question mark. Is Michelle's flight reflex clouding her judgment? Is Emmett the person he claims to be? Is Howard's apocalypse story completely full of sh*t?
Answers do come, eventually -- but not before you've ping-ponged across the entire spectrum of possibilities.
Amidst the uncertainty, an odd, familial dynamic develops. Howard, Emmett and Michelle sit at the dinner table together. They hang out on the couch watching movies. They piece together puzzles and play board games.
They also bash each other's faces with glass bottles. And plot elaborate escape plans. And puzzle over dark secrets and inexplicable lies. The movie's see-sawing between familial cheer and simmering mistrust is both dizzying and absorbing.
Director Dan Trachtenberg's feature debut could best be described as "effortless." He's a gifted filmmaker, eliciting superior performances from his three principal players and carefully restricting what the audience is allowed to know at any given moment.
Equal credit goes to expert cinematography from Jeff Cutter, who leaves you struggling to peer beyond the edges of every shot. So much of the tension in 10 Cloverfield Lane is rooted in Cutter's claustrophobic framing.
The sound design team's contributions are similarly essential. A blistering aural landscape physically assaults viewers with every heaving breath and thudding impact. You spend as much time feeling this movie as you do seeing it.
The result is a startlingly effective, seat-edging thriller that's framed against a science fiction yarn. It's Hitchcock by way of Orson Welles. The bunker is the only world we know, or need to know, for most of the movie.
Just don't make the mistake of thinking the apocalypse -- or, if you prefer, Howard's apocalyptic tall tale -- is just scene-setting. The goings-on outside are vital to Michelle's journey, and this is very much her story.
But that's where we run into spoilers. For all of its technical successes, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a difficult movie to discuss critically with those who haven't seen it. Think of Michelle as a caterpillar and the bunker as her cocoon.
Most of all, just see the movie. It's got the sensibilities of a big budget blockbuster and the craft of an art house thinkpiece, peering at the monsters that seek shelter in dark corners after a cataclysmic event.
It's a Cloverfield.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
