Well done considering the concept

Rating: 7/10 (5 December 2009)

I delayed watching Cloverfield because my 19-yr. old son told me it sucked. We both dread shaky-cam films, and he said Cloverfield takes the cake in nausea-inducing jitter. I finally watched the film, and was pleasantly surprised at not only the quality of the special effects, but at the producers' success in evoking a real sense of dread and horror. The Blair Witch style handy cam approach lends quite a bit of realism, and the destroyed city was portrayed to stunning effect. My guess is that all the negativity in many reviews of this film stem from the 16-24 yr. old demographic of viewers, who probably couldn't get past their emotional biases against the main characters in Cloverfield. Sure, the plot was simplistic, and the monster invincible and undefined...that's the hallmark of a truly frightening monster movie - mystery, the unknown. We fear most that which we don't understand. In summary, I think Cloverfield, even with the annoying shaky cam, manages to do something most horror films fail at - create a real sense of stark fear.