Lammastide said:

I've seen those first 2 and based on fan reports are fake. Based on the descrition I read on line all 3 are fake. I doubt there is going to be a toy based on this movie. That last one is certainly not the monster (who has a tail).

superspaceboy said:

I definitely hope number 3 is fake. Number 1 almost certainly is. (Unfortunately. ) I'm not so sure about number 2, though. I've now seen assorted quick sketches and written descriptions of the monster by people who claim to have seen early screenings, and they generally resemble number 2.

The beauty part of this, of course, is that with fake reviews, etc., being routinely planted by studios, the veracity of all these spoilers is completely up in the air. Makes the whole swirl of discussion suddenly exciting again... and I thought I was over this project months ago.
[Edited 1/15/08 13:13pm]

I'm pretty sure it'll suck, but I'll go see it anyway.

cheeseburger said:

lawd its gonna be good!!!!!

I feel like it's gonna be like I Am Legend - not showing much in the trailer to build up suspense then turning out to be not so good.

benyamin said:

You serious?!

Sweeny79 said:

O ye, of little faith

I can't wait to see this

I heard it was Joan Rivers.

I'm looking forward to seeing it as well.

p.s.

DanceWme said:

I heard it was Donald Trump.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

































OK...I was on a site (can't recall which) that supposedly reported on a screening of the film.

SUPPOSEDLY;

1. The film was mostly shot "camcorder" style. Kinda' like the Blair Witch project. It's a love it or hate it deal, but supposedly it adds to the suspense.
2. The main characters ARE the movie. It's basically all about their attempt to escape NYC.
3. You never actually see the monster!!!! The devastation is all around them, but you don't actually see what the creature looks like.


Again...just what I read.
We'll have to wait & see.

purplesweat said:

i'd take them two over Rosie O'donell

purplesweat said:

You BOTH are WRONG.

"Surprisingly, it isn't the effects or the action or the mayhem that dominates Cloverfield. It is the characters and their plight to find their friend. It's personal. It's close to your heart. And god damnit if you can't identify with it."

PurpleJedi said:

Those aren't really spoilers. And You DO get to see the monster. NO it won't be one long shot at it close up, but you do see it and you get to see it from different angles and POV (like from a distance). The reason the movie has been shrouded in mystery is BECAUSE of what the monster looks like.

I've read comments/complaints around the lack of backstory regarding the monster. Turns out the culprit isn't bad movie-making, but bad movie-watching...

Based on what I've read, when you guys go see the film, pay close attention to everything in the very final frame of the movie. It's not merely a throwaway final scene. There's an important detail.
[Edited 1/16/08 14:55pm]

Lammastide said:

I have read those comments too and have heard some say it's to the movies benefit as to add any backstory, would take away from the narrative as well as make things plausable for the audience. The point here I think was to make something very visceral with very little time to spend on thinking what where and why and more time thinking how these people are going to get to their friend and make it out alive.

Well, if anyone paid any real attention to any of the viral marketing, there is much speculation and innuendo regarding how the Monster got to be. Companies like Tagurato Oil and TIDOwave.com as well as the Slusho Drinks (and it's secret ingredient Seabed's Nectar (recently approved by the FDA)) Tell the background story and these stories infer where the Monster comes from. There are also many pictures floating about that have been created as canon for the movie. Things like a picture that looks like a night vision attack on something large in the water or a fishermans boat on what looks loike blood in the water under his boat.

I have heard reports that much of the viral marketing will not be in the movie (so far no reports of Slusho making any appearance) And some chick named Jamie who's been video blogging is merely seen passed out on the couch at the party. They have done very similar marketing for LOST...actually it feels like the same culprits are behind the creation of this content.

Monster Concept

Producer J.J. Abrams aims to provide an old-time rush.
By Mark Olsen, Special to The Times
Latimes.com
1/16/08

When the unusual teaser trailer for "Cloverfield" first appeared unexpectedly before last summer's blockbuster "Transformers," it set off a wave of interest verging on hysteria. The clip featured what looked like home-video footage of a New York City house party suddenly erupting into total chaos -- earth-shaking explosions followed by the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty crashing down the street as stunned onlookers whipped out their camera-phones.

Hastily posted on the Internet, the trailer was soon being dissected with a fever perhaps not seen since the landmark buildup to 1999's "The Blair Witch Project," as fans began concocting wild theories about what caused the destruction (a humongous monster), what happens (it goes ballistic on Manhattan) and how much would viewers ultimately get to see (plenty).

But the surprise and secrecy were one component of the inventive film, which opens Friday. While the teaser left potential viewers salivating for more, the most concrete piece of information it provided was that the film came from producer J.J. Abrams, best known for television shows such as the cerebral "Lost," the action-filled "Alias" and the wistfully romantic "Felicity."

Related
Photo: Silliest giant monster movies "Cloverfield" originated with Abrams wanting to reenergize the monster movie, to bring into the 21st century the creepy-fun flicks he had enjoyed as boy; not the charnel-house blood baths of current horror films but rather such enigmatic thrillers as Ridley Scott's "Alien," David Cronenberg's "The Fly" and John Carpenter's "The Thing" -- movies that surpassed any supposed limitations of the genre.

"I loved monster movies when I was a kid," Abrams said recently, "and I had not seen a monster movie since then that made me feel anything, where I got that rush. I just desperately wanted to have that sensation."

With both an idea for the story and a concept for how to shoot the film, Abrams and his producing partner Bryan Burk enlisted writer Drew Goddard (TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), who was working with Abrams on "Lost." Eventually Abrams would also draft Matt Reeves, a childhood friend as well as a co-creator of "Felicity," to direct. The film's $25-million budget was financed by Paramount Pictures, for whom Abrams had directed "Mission: Impossible III" and is directing "Star Trek."

Reeves had previously directed the feature film "The Pallbearer" with David Schwimmer and Gwyneth Paltrow -- not the most immediate calling card for a Monster-Eats-Manhattan picture. "They came to me because what they really wanted was a sense of intimacy and character and realism," said Reeves. "The thing that ended up being different about this film is the concept of having it be this Handycam story where everything is supposed to be told as if it's found footage. The whole movie, even though it's this epic-sized story, it's shot and done in an intimate manner. So it's this kind of realistic portrayal of an absolutely outlandish idea."

The secrecy surrounding the project extended to the casting process as well. The team behind "Cloverfield" hired a group of relatively unknown actors, making the true star of the film not just the monster but also the mystery, which is slowly revealed in the shaky, post-YouTube, faux-found-footage style in which the film was shot. Though the story is supposedly all captured on a single camera, in reality a variety of cameras were used, from top-of-the line professional gear used to seamlessly blend with digital effects to consumer-grade footage shot by the actors themselves

In many ways the story line of "Cloverfield" perfectly joins the conceits of Abrams' past work -- a shotgun wedding of the puzzles of "Lost" with the yearning of "Felicity." The film opens with a group of twentysomething New Yorkers gathering for a farewell party as one of their circle departs for a new job in Japan. Romantic entanglements are quickly established, all seen from the perspective of a video camera carried by a hapless character named Hud.

Once the destruction starts, the party empties into the street and the protagonists are plunged headlong into a nightmarish odyssey trying to escape the city. Hud dutifully captures it all on video, driven by the contemporary urge to self-document and a strange need to eke out some control over what's happening around him.

It is exactly this unlikely mix of the big-shock thrills of a Hollywood action movie and the small-scale interactions of a youth-oriented drama that give "Cloverfield" its charge. Rather than focusing on the attempts to battle the monster, the film settles in with the individual dramas of those caught up in its destructive wake.

According to Lizzy Caplan, who plays the wise-cracking Marlena, the initial audition was a scene that led her to believe the project would be like a film version of "Felicity," full of heartfelt conversations and lovelorn moments. She was surprised when a callback audition consisted of a frantic action scene that turned out to be from an episode of "Alias." "Only after being offered the part did we hear it was a monster movie, and only after signing on did we get to read the script," said Caplan.

Twenty-six-year-old T.J. Miller makes his movie debut as the endearingly beleaguered Hud, who is head over heels for Marlena. Since his character is holding the camera for essentially the entire movie -- and Miller himself often served as camera operator while performing -- he is actually seen for only a few moments. Yet Hud, in directing the viewer's point of view while also providing a running commentary to the action, is an indelible character. "The audience becomes unified with Hud," said Miller. "He's not a character that they watch, he's a character that they sort of are."

"The point of view was so restricted, it felt really fresh," explained Reeves of the film's unique perspective and format. "It was one of the things that attracted me [to this project]. You are with this group of people and then this event happens and they do their best to understand it and survive it, and that's all they know."

The original Japanese version of "Godzilla," arguably the precursor of the modern, urban monster movie, has always been seen as a direct extension of the Atomic Age anxiety over the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Among the imagery used in "Cloverfield" are collapsing skyscrapers, great clouds of dust and swirling drifts of paper that directly reference the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In the hands of Abrams, Reeves and Co., the monster movie remains a repository for the collective unease felt in the wake of a national tragedy.

" 'Cloverfield' is meant to explore the very real and obvious fears we are all living with everyday," said Abrams, "to let the audience have the experience but in a much more safe and manageable way. . . .

"I believe there are a whole lot of people who want to have that kind of catharsis and who don't necessarily want to see documentaries about the very issues they are grappling with internally."

"In a way, what 'Cloverfield' does," said Reeves, "is it puts a name on the unthinkable."

superspaceboy said:

Yeah, I've seen those. Makes for a fun lead-up. What's interesting, though, is the implications of what's supposedly in the final frame of the movie turn all those viral theories on their ear.... or, rather, serve even as a pretext to their pretext.

(If you want me to spill the beans, let me know and I'll orgnote you what I've read. )
[Edited 1/16/08 16:41pm]

Copycat said:

There's an exaggeration if ever I read one.

I googled "cloverfield monster" and this is what came up...

@ the monster concepts.


When I first heard about this, I assumed it was gonna be similar to War of the Worlds, but now people are revealing it's more like the Godzilla movies. I'm cool with it either way since I like both. I'm just trying not to see too much. I just don't wanna know anything and go in there with a clear mind.


too
[Edited 1/16/08 18:48pm]

Im watching it in t-minus 2hours and 30mins!!! whoop whoop!!!

DanceWme said:

That's the scariest idea I heard so far!

andykeen said:

Report back to us!

I SAW IT SO SPOILER ALERT!!!!! DO NOT SCROLL DOWN IF YOU DON'T WANNA KNOW!!!!!


































You DO get VERY clear shots of the monster numerous times. This ain't no Lost episode, it takes til at least halfway through the movie to properly see it by the end of the movie we get a VERY long close up shot of its face.

It's a REALLY weird monster, it's face looked like a dog but it was mostly crab like with pincers and tentacles. It also has smaller (dog sized) monsters on it, not sure if they're its babies or whatever. They jump off its back and attack people and if you get bitten you eventually explode for some reason. They never make it clear why, which sucks ass.

It also seems unkillable, it had the whole damn military shooting at it for 7+ hours and it seemed unharmed. Asshole.

I liked the way they filmed it, completely through the hand held camera. So many times you feel like you're there because of it and it's not frustratingly hard to see anything. There were a few "as if" moments like how they mananged to rescue Beth and the ending was pretty damn depressing.

I'm gonna go see it next week again with another friend and I'm gonna watch out for the "final frame" a poster earlier talked about.

I liked how there was no song on the final credits either, spooky touch.

I give it a 10/10, loved it, action packed and very well made.

I am just a science fiction geek...and I am intrigued as to what it is actually and the way it is shot makes it feel like you are part of it.

Yeah...I got Geek in me too!!

clues can be found at these (fake) sites created by the film:

http://slusho.jp/

http://www.tagruato.jp/deepsea.php

http://tidowave.com