"Godzilla" Meets "The Blair Witch Project" - a great homage to giant monster run amok flix

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2008)

CLOVERFIELD (2008) *** Michael Stahl-David, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Lizzy Caplan, Odette Yustan, Mike Vogel. "Godzilla" meets "The Blair Witch Project" could've been the pitch by executive producer JJ Abrams in this high-concept upgrade for the giant monster running amok creature feature action/adventure/sci-fi chiller for the 21st century: a small group of twentysomethings are at a going away party in a downtown Manhattan loft when all hell breaks loose in the form of a gi-normous watch-a-ma-call-it wreaking havoc and taking a colossal bite out of The Big Apple, and being recorded by one of the attendees, the guest of honor's best bud, while racing for their lives to get out of Dodge. While the shaky-cam histrionics may cause seizures it's been around over a decade so take some Dramamine in this highly entertaining popcorn flick with some truly jaw-dropping visuals of 'how-the-hell- did-they-do-that?!' to the nth degree (granted the monster is a tad cheesy but what do you want from an homage to great "B" films like "King Kong" , "Independence Day" and "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms"). Special shout out for a major film to finally have a character named Marlena (the spunky Caplan), who shares my sister's moniker! (DIR: Matt Reeves)