10 Cloverfield Lane: 9 Easter Eggs, In-Jokes And References

2. Meta Mystery Confusion

Even after the motivations of Howard have been (somewhat) clarified, the big question for the characters is what's happened outside. Has there been an attack? Is it biological, chemical or nuclear? Is it aliens? Is it the Cloverfield monster? Or is it all just smoke and mirrors? I've already written about how the marketing managed to encapsulate the movie, but this is a case where the movie managed to capture the marketing; this confusion is very reminiscent of all the fan speculation and uncertainty, with each new trailer or piece of news shifting what people expected from the film. Given that the base script was written long before the movie became 10 Cloverfield Lane, this is likely just a coincidence, but it's cool all the same.