Odd but effective mix of genres

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2017)

Most of "10 Cloverfield Lane" is a psychological thriller as a young women (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up in an underground shelter following a car accident, only to find that she is essentially a prisoner of an erratic and unbalanced survivalist (John Goodman). Goodman's character is her only source of information and the first act revolves around her assumption that he's lying when he tells her that the world outside the shelter has been destroyed and the air is unbreathable (despite claims of the shelters third occupant to have seen a flash in the sky before fighting his way into the shelter). Winstead is very good in the role of the desperate trapped women, who is both capable and resourceful and whose actions and behaviour, with in the context of the story, are realistic and compelling. Goodman's unbalanced survivalist is also very good, especially as his version of what has happened/is happening begins to unravel, and his guests/captives become first suspicious, then terrified. The film ends with the revelation of what has occurred beyond the walls of the shelter, linking the titular address with the kaiju film "Cloverfield" (albeit obliquely). All-in-all, an interesting and well-made apocalyptic thriller with an interesting twist on the 'unreliable narrator' and a somewhat unexpected ending that (based on reviews) viewers many find satisfying, intriguing, or preposterous.