NOW ON DVD

CLOVERFIELD
Rated PG-13
Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman


Brian’s Rating       

The movie lasted ninety minutes. The headache lasted a day and a half.

That was my reaction to the theatrical screening of Cloverfield, but now that it’s out on DVD, it occurs to me that the disorienting, nausea-inducing camera work is going to be easier for most people to handle.

In the manner of The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield is shot from the very personal perspective of a hand-held camera whose operator is often capturing the action as he runs down the street.

Distracting as it may be, the effect actually amplifies the terror of the attack on Gotham and makes Cloverfield pretty scary stuff.

I thought that angry-monster movies were a thing of the past, but Cloverfield clearly demonstrates that there are a few tricks we haven’t seen. Nevertheless, this is a film for the iPod generation only.