CLOVERFIELD (a.k.a. 1-18-08) (2008) - PREVIEW 

Cloverfield (2008)

Starring: Michael Stahl-David, Odet Jasmin, Mike Vogel, Lizzy Kaplan
Director: Matt Reeves
Rated: Unrated
U.S. Opening Date: January 18th, 2008

THEY SAY

Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.

WE SAY

More an exercise in clever marketing than anything else thus far, the latest J.J. Abrams (even though the Lost maestro isn’t directing it himself) project caused quite a flurry when the trailer appeared out of nowhere to feature in front of the Transformers movie. Since then the Internet rumor machine has gone into overdrive. Very little is actually known about the film except for the tantalizing poster and of course the stunning trailer itself. Latest word has it though that 1-18-08 or Cloverfield as the as-yet-untitled project is known as is indeed about a giant Godzilla-like monster attaching New York. Along the way the giant monster has smaller vicious raptor-like creatures dropping out of it to terrorize the poor New York populace which to be honest have had its fair share of disasters, both in real life and in the movies. (This large monster spawning smaller ones and coming from the sea is similar to one seen in the DC Comics title, The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke. Warner Animation is ironically making this comic into a direct-to-DVD feature right now.)
 

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News update (16/01/2008): Star Trek teaser trailer to screen before Cloverfield.
 

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Note: Opinion on the Internet differs on whether the monster in Cloverfield looks anything like the design sketch above. If you have seen the movie then e-mail us at scifimoviepage@yahoo.com and let us know.

Trivia

• The first trailer for this movie played before Transformers. It showed a blurry camera seeing destruction wreaked on New York City, with the 401 Broadway Building blowing up and the severed head of the Statue of Liberty falling onto the streets. There was no title.
• A person can be seen wearing a Slusho t-shirt in the movie trailer. It's visible when he leans toward the camera to ask if anything can be seen from the roof after watching the news broadcast. Slusho is a drink from J.J. Abrams' show Alias as well as this film's codename. Slusho is also a Japanese drink.
• Filming in Los Angeles was done under the fake production title "Slusho", while shooting in New York (in 33 days until August 8, 2007) was done under the fake production title "Cheese".
   

• Teaser (QuickTime): hi-res (640x480), med-res (480x360), lo-res (320x240), High Definition (480p,720p,1080p)
• Trailer (QuickTime): hi-res (640x480), med-res (480x360), lo-res (320x240), High Definition (480p,720p,1080p)