So I went to see Cloverfield tonight. Considering this is its second week in town and they are showing it at both 7 and 9 pm (normally the theatre shows one movie in one theatre at 7 and another at 9) I figured the movie must be highly in demand. I even got there early in case there was a line.
Not only was there not a line, but I got to experience something that's never happened to me in my movie going experience - I had the theatre entirely to myself. I was sitting there waiting until about 7:05 when the owner pops into the theatre, goes "Oh, we do have a customer" and then goes into the room behind where I'm sitting and starts the movie. I guess everyone went to see it opening weekend, which explains why its box office dropped nearly 70 per cent this weekend.
Weirdness. Kind of cool, but weirdness. On the one hand, it's nice to have an audience with you to get their reaction. On the other hand, I didn't have annoying teenagers and kids talking their way through the movie. I think the good overcame the bad in this situation.
As for the movie itself, not too bad at all. I didn't get sick or dizzy like some people have claimed to have experienced. Kind of hard to believe no one had really tried this before - a monster movie from the perspective of the people who get stomped on. Then again, this is the first generation that in the middle of chaos and horror, their first reaction is to whip out the cell phones and take photos or record it. So this movies makes sense now. All that was missing was a scene where a character tries to upload the video to YouTube.
But the movie worked for me. There's enough glimpses of the monster, some good scary stuff and suspense. And because the cast is filled with nobodies, you don't know for sure who, if anyone, is going to survive. Yeah, you don't get the history of the monster and all the military and scientific types explaining things for you, but it still works in this context. It's something a bit different. And yeah, I would have liked it if the camera didn't bounce around quite so much, but it's fine. Eighty-five minutes is about the right length for this. Any longer and you would get bored. Or, depending on your disposition, puking.
Although I will offer one piece of advice: If you're in a dark subway tunnel and you glance down and see large numbers of rats running past you, your reaction shouldn't be "huh, that's weird" and fiddle with the camera. Your life's goal, no matter if you life is only going to be measured in second at this point, is to out race the rats. Trust me.
Last Five
All from Achtung Baby by U2
2 comments:
I would be wayyyy too scared to watch a horror flick in the theatre by myself.
Huh...I didn't really think it was that scary. To me, it would be like thinking that Godzilla or King Kong was scary. To me, it's just kind of cool. But I've always had a weakness for big monsters stomping around on things.
As for the other part of the movie's inspiration - The Blair Witch Project - I missed the boat on that one. I saw the movie weeks after it came out. It just struck me as silly rather than scary. Although I had friends who went opening night and nearly pissed themselves in terror (Hi Dups).
I think you would have been fine, except for the bit in the tunnels and the scene at the emergency triage area. That would have freaked you out.
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