10 Greatest Monster Movies Of The 21st Century
9. Cloverfield
Cloverfield gets a lot of flak for its depiction of people running and being startled, thanks in no small part to South Park’s hilarious lampooning of Matt Reeves’s shaky-cam blockbuster. Although it has its flaws, and is a very easy film to make fun of as a result, Cloverfield deserves credit for expertly splicing the monster and found footage genres in a way that felt novel back in 2008.
Whereas most monster movies gravitate towards sweeping wide shots of levelled skyscrapers, in order to create a sense of size and scope, Cloverfield does the opposite, and places the camera on the ground, in the hands of a group of unsuspecting New Yorkers.
It all starts rather innocuously, with home video footage of a leaving party recorded by protagonist Rob’s annoying friend. As relationships start to unravel and tension boils over, the rug is pulled out from under both the characters and the audience, as the giant Cloverfield sea-monster starts levelling buildings left and right.
Like a lot of the best monster movies, Cloverfield is a great example of less sometimes being more – the Cloverfield creature is rarely pictured, so when it is, its presence is much more effective. The movie’s spiritual sequel, 10 Cloverfield Lane, would use similar tactics in order to create a feeling of unknowing in its viewers.