Shaky camera work mars 'Cloverfield'

Media Credit: Courtesy of PARAMOUNT PICTURES STRANGE ENCOUNTERS - The unlikely heroes of the J.J. Abrams-produced "Cloverfield" document their adventures on a home video camera. This point of view puts the audience right in the middle of the movie's action. However, the home video camera approach lends itself to creating a nauseating cinematic experience.

"Cloverfield," the much-hyped monster movie produced by "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams, is one horrific vision of things falling apart - not simply because an unidentified monster is destroying New York City right before our heroes' eyes, but also because the film's director, Matt Reeves, destroys the film's provocative concept right before the audience's eyes.

Just imagine how interesting this film must have sounded to executives when Abrams pitched it: "Cloverfield" - it's like "The Blair Witch Project" meets a Godzilla movie. Some friends are throwing a going-away party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David), who will soon be leaving New York to live in Japan. They want to document the event, so Rob's brother (Mike Vogul) brings along a video camera. A monster begins attacking the city moments after the party has started, and this video camera serves as the audience's eye into the chaos.

The obscured perspective also makes "Cloverfield" something of a throwback to older thrillers like "Jaws" and "Alien," in which scares are not based on how much gore is visible on screen, but on how little the audience sees the monster. The fear of these films is, of course, based on the unknown. The reasons for presenting "Cloverfield" from the fleeing civilian's perspective become clear: Not only does it foster suspense, but it also continues the knowing-less-is-fearing-more philosophy of 1970s thrillers.

For this approach, "Cloverfield" should be commended. Very few contemporary horror and thriller directors understand the importance of building tension. However, true tension is the very basis for fear in film. The payoff moment, the scene in which someone is killed or the monster attacks, diffuses that tension.

Reeves revels in these suspenseful moments, never hurrying along to that chaotic payoff moment. The party sequence opening the film exemplifies this intention, weaving character-development amid audience expectation. When will the monster attack? By the time it does, the audience is startled because it have since shifted focus from awaiting the footage previewed in the film's trailer to awaiting the outcome of a tempestuous relationship.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools

Be the first to comment on this story

• Name: (required)
• Email: (required)
• NOTE: Email address will not be published
• Website:

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

Email notify will not work because you are not currently logged in.
Click here to quickly login or create a free account.

Type your comment below (html not allowed)

  I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.