4/5 Stars For those wondering why in the world Bad Robot would make a “Cloverfield” sequel eight years after the original, fear not. They didn’t.
Despite its title, “10 Cloverfield Lane,” has next to nothing to do with its predecessor, and that’s okay. Rather than a sequel or prequel that came out of nowhere, “10 Cloverfield Lane” is a fresh and adrenaline-fueled horror film that effectively stands on its own. It is also one of the first great movies of 2016 (though the new Coen Brothers film “Hail Caesar!” is quite good as well).
The movie opens with a brutal car crash, as a woman named Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is hit and sent flipping over on the side of the highway. When she wakes up, she finds herself locked up in a cell in an underground bunker with a farm right above it. Here, a man named Howard (John Goodman) tells her that there’s been a massive attack on the surface and that the air’s contaminated. Howard also tells Michelle that when he found her on the side of the road he brought her to his bunker to be safe.
Though highly skeptical at first, Michelle is left with little choice but to remain there with Howard and his hillbilly friend Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) for the time being. Yet as time crawls on and these mysterious events steadily increase, Michelle must decide whether it’s safer to remain with this conspiracy theorist or to venture into the unknown of the outside world.
The movie was originally based on a screenplay called “The Cellar,” and was later reworked to be made into part of the “Cloverfield” franchise. Fortunately, the studio appears to have preserved most of the original script, as the only out-of-left-field Cloverfield elements of the narrative come into play at the very end. And even then, the climax fits in pretty well with the rest of the story; the only unnecessary component is the clumsy inclusion of “Cloverfield” in the title.
Much of the film’s suspense and entertainment value stems from its visuals. Director Dan Trachtenberg exhibits an almost Hitchcockian style, in terms of how he uses the confined setting and slow tracking shots to create a strong sense of tension. Particularly in the beginning, much of this is accomplished with little to no dialogue, making audiences feel Michelle’s isolation and fear. These are old-school tactics, but they work, much more so than any found footage horror film I’ve seen recently.
Yet while the pacing and visual elements are equally top-notch, what carries the movie is Goodman’s downright chilling performance. Though well known for his long list of roles in animated films and as the trigger-happy best friend of The Dude in “The Big Lebowski,” here he merges his superb voice talents with his physicality to portray a character who is as inwardly tormented as he is intimidating and forceful.
Obsessed with creating a surrogate family in the wake of this apocalypse, perhaps the creepiest scene in the film is a montage sequence in which Howard and his companions are playing games and appearing to be happy with each other. Amidst the smiles and jovial background music, the audience knows that this is a fantasy Howard is trying desperately to maintain but that will dissipate in time.
Likewise, Winstead plays off Goodman’s character well as the protagonist. While the only thing we know about her at the beginning is that she leaves home to escape from a troubled relationship with her boyfriend, she comes across as an easily relatable character. Given that the story is told entirely from her perspective, it makes the viewing experience all the more intense, as audiences only know what she knows.
From a film student’s perspective, “10 Cloverfield Lane” offers a great lesson in terms of style, direction, writing and acting. Rarely is a genre film these days this satisfying on multiple levels, making it a must-see for horror aficionados and casual moviegoers alike.
