What a horror film should be...

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2008)

****************CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS*********************************
Minutes ago, I finished seeing the midnight premiere of Cloverfield at the Uptown Theatre in Washington, DC. If anything, I had low expectations going in. I found myself pleasantly surprised by an elegant horror film.
All too often, horror films suffer from three basic faults. First, horror films tend to devolve into morality tales or popularity contests in which unlikeable and/or morally flawed characters die and usually do so in horrible ways. Second, horror films tend to reveal too much of the monster, by either showing the monster in full detail or by revealing too many facts about the creature. Third, although it is not necessary that all major characters die, uplifting endings tend to reduce the full impact of a horror film. Cloverfield's effectiveness lies in its ability to clear each of these hurdles.
First, Cloverfield avoids being a morality tale or popularity contest by presenting us with a set of characters with whom the audience can relate and who show, overall, positive or at least understandable character traits. Although the characters have slightly different personalities, no one is written to be clearly more or less likable than anyone else. There are times, however, when we question the wisdom or morality of certain characters' actions. For instance, the audience would probably question both the morality and wisdom of one character whose decision to film this incident in undeterred by the destruction surrounding him or even the deaths of some of his friends. Further, the audience is left wondering how moral it is to search for one person in NY city (which forms the underlying premise for the film) thereby endangering the lives of everyone else in the group (a kind of 'Saving Private Ryan' problem). Although these characters make decisions that are questionable or even downright stupid at times, the characters acknowledge the risks that they're taking and behave in ways that someone may conceivably behave in a high stress situation. Further, the resolve of the character filming the incident and of the character who spurs the group forward looking for a woman who may already be dead (not to mention the loyalty of his friends who agree to go with him) further makes us like and even root for the characters.
Second, although we see a lot of the monster, we tend to see parts of the creature in low light situations or in between buildings. When we finally do see the creature in daylight, the sun is to the creature's back, creating a halo effect that obscures the details of the creature's face (this was done rather effectively with the aliens in M. Night Shyamalan's 'Signs'). Further, we are left knowing very little about the monster and its origins. Ultimately, fear is based on ignorance, and since you leave the theater with more questions than answers about the monster in Cloverfield, the monster remains terrifying. For an alternate example, consider the creatures from the ALIEN films. These aliens are scary for a time. Once you know where they come from, how they mature, and that they are essentially social insects, however, every film afterward feels like a National Geographic special about the predatory behaviors of the Man-Eating Parasitic Xenomorph of LV-426. They're not scary- just interesting at best. If Cloverfield has sequels, this monster will inevitably suffer the same fate. But for now, the monster's mystery keeps it scary.
Finally, horror films are essentially multi-million dollar ghost stories. Ghost stories are most effective when either (a) the monster wins (b) there is a threat that the monster will return or (c) there is an ominous sense that the creature was not fully understood and a graver fate awaits the characters. I will not spoil the ending by telling you whether Cloverfield conforms to (a), (b), or (c), but, I will say that, in regards to the ending, Cloverfield takes a page from 'The Birds' and 'Night of the Living Dead' in that the fate of the characters, the monster, or even mankind are left to some extent uncertain.
I am giving Cloverfield an 8/10 because it manages to be a great horror film not by offering something new but by borrowing from classics. Elements of 'The Birds,' 'Night of the Living Dead,' and, of course, 'The Blair Witch Project' are fundamental to the film's success. Indeed, I am surprised that no one made a film like this soon after 'The Blair Witch Project' because that film's success makes a film like this a foregone successor.