Clever tight entertainment

Rating: Null/10 (7 May 2016)

After getting in a car accident, a woman is held in a shelter with two men.
Director Dan Trachtenberg offers a well directed solid suspense thriller, that borrows from Stephen King's Misery, War of the Worlds and of course Cloverfield in the closing. 10 Cloverfield Lane's minimal main cast are on fantastic form, notable are Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. but it's John Goodman who steals the show and is given more depth than the other characters.
What starts out as a seemingly typical torture kidnap thriller turns into something quite different. With the claustrophobic location of an underground bunker complete with air shafts, which Winstead has to worm her way through, it does have it tense moments. Loyality and trust themes builds the tension throughout thanks to Goodman's questionable character Howard. He gives a stellar performance with Bear McCreary's score adding to the edgy proceedings. With fine effects and some tight writing from Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken and Damien Chazelle it works as a stand alone film as well as a 'side-quel' to J.J Abrams earlier 2008 outing. Clearly the small cast and few locations transparently function to warrant and somewhat set up a big budget third instalment. But don't expect any alien action until the latter half.
It's fast pace, unconventional story telling holds interest and makes it worth while viewing alone. Cloverfield fans will be pleased but those who aren't aware of the Cloverfield link may get more satisfaction from the alien twist ending and Howard's real intentions.