10 Cloverfield Lane
Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg
The world shared a collective WTF moment months ago when a brief trailer was released showing Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, and John Patrick Gallagher Jr. confined to some sort of underground bunker before the title of the movie was revealed to be 10 Cloverfield Lane.
We soon learned “mystery box” man himself, producer JJ Abrams was once again behind a mysterious thriller featuring a rather clever marketing technique – instead of bombarding audiences with plot details, why not create a genuine spoiler-free campaign?
Described as a “blood relative” to 2008’s shaky cam monster flick Cloverfield, this human-driven character study begins when Winstead is involved in a car accident only to wake up in a bomb shelter with two men telling her a recent chemical attack prevents them from going outside for a really long time. What follows is a masterclass in tension building with first time feature director Dan Trachtenberg displaying some promising skills as he crafts the film with confident precision.
The acting is sensational as the three leads play house in a sort of bizarre Hitchcock/Twilight Zone episode mash-up and, as the paranoia and doubt about what really happened increases, finally culminates with a serious case of cabin fever.
10 Cloverfield Lane’s final act features an absolutely bonkers twist that makes it feel like an entirely different film, which may rub some the wrong way. Many unanswered questions are raised in the final 10 minutes, ensuring we haven’t seen the last of this intriguing and somewhat refreshing franchise.
