A Great Suspense Driven Story With a Very Cheesy Sci-Fi Twist!!!

Rating: 9/10 (12 March 2016)

First off, this movie is hardly a sequel or a prequel to 2008's Cloverfield. Maybe in some way, it's a spin-off. Only time will tell. 95% of the movie is its own thing. It's during the last ten minutes where it might come close to being related to the first movie. This review might contain some spoilers. I've heard that this film was originally known as The Cellar. At the last minute, the producers tweaked a few things to try and make it related to Cloverfield. The story itself was actually very good and very intriguing. When I saw the trailers, I didn't know what to expect. It's very driven by suspense, almost like that of a Hitchcock film. It's kind of a mix between Saw, Misery, and a film called Otis. John Goodman's character is scary at times. You never know when he's going to crack.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Final Destination 3, Live Free or Die Hard) stars as Michelle, a woman on the run from her broken relationship. During a car crash, she wakes up in Howard's underground bunker, chained to the wall. Howard tells her he saved her life and claims that the world outside is now uninhabitable due to the nuclear or chemical fallout from "an attack." (One thing I loved was that we never knew until the end if Howard was telling the truth, or making up crazy stories just to keep Michelle and another man, Emmett captive for himself.) Michelle tries to escape but soon learns that monsters come in many forms. I like that it was isolated and claustrophobic and mostly kept in one location as the three main stars bond, play games, listen to music and watch TV. In a weird way it reminded me of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead when the four friends were confined to the mall. At first, I was thrown off and let down by the twist in the last half, but my friend gave me his explanation and it make a little more sense. The film as a whole is definitely starting to grow on me. As I said, the movie is very driven by great suspense and some decent character development. It's like a great suspense classic from the 70's, but made for modern times with a decent science fiction twist. I would definitely recommend 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE!!!