Gripping, Terrifying Experience

Rating: 9/10 (22 January 2008)

Congratulations to director Matt Reeves, writer Drew Goddard, producers J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk and the cast for creating one of the most unsettling PG-13 rated experiences since THE SIXTH SENSE. If you ever wondered while watching a Godzilla movie, what it must've been like for all the little "toy" people figures being crushed, exploded and otherwise killed in the monster's rampage, CLOVERFIELD gives you the up-close-and-personal version of what was actually taking place on the ground. A lot of people won't like the "Blair Witch"-style, first person/shaky-cam method used to tell the story, but this is exactly what sets it apart from and above your "average" monster mash. Add startling visual and special effects and some believably frightened performances, and what you have here is a movie that is going to be dissected, debated and discussed all the way through 2008, and probably beyond.