10 Cloverfield Lane
by Dan Trachtenberg
Let's pretend for a moment that a boring and impractical film called Cloverfield never happened in 2008. Let's also pretend that 10 Cloverfield Lane was not titled as such just to pique people's interest and get them to go see it... I mean, come on, that's why I went to see it. How about you?
If you haven't had the pleasure of watching this fantastic John Goodman/Mary Elizabeth Winstead film, then I highly recommend that you get to watchin'! While not technically a "horror" film, 10 Cloverfield Lane falls into so many different categories and creates, at times, immense tension that I felt it was more "horror" than the nonsense we're usually stuck with when it comes to theatrical releases.
The movie focuses on Michelle, a young woman who has decided to leave her fiancé for unspecified reasons. As Michelle is leaving town she gets into a horrible car accident and wakes up in an underground bunker some time later, recovering from her injuries but chained to a pipe in a tiny room. Queue the ever-excellent John Goodman playing the role of paranoid prepper Howard. Howard informs Michelle that he found her after her accident and took it upon himself to rescue her since he knew that America was under attack and she'd have been killed otherwise. Michelle then meets Emmett, a man who says he witnessed the attack and willingly joined Howard in the bunker in order to survive the attack.
The movie continues on from here, building tension, suspicions, and fear throughout. Did the world really end, or is Howard simply keeping Michelle captive? Did Emmett really witness the attack or has he just been conditioned by Howard? I couldn't help but wonder if there was some weird Stockholm Syndrome thing going on and if Howard was a total nutcase or this man really was trying to do a good thing by rescuing Michelle from her totaled vehicle. While Howard has very likeable qualities (he's this quirky, heavyset prepper, who we learn is a veteran and he at some point lost his daughter) there's always this feeling of a looming threat; so on one hand you think John Goodman's character means well, and on the other you see the blatant characteristics of a psychopath.
The film is very claustrophobic. There are only three characters that are confined to quite a small area and no matter what Michelle discovers or what the story reveals, I still knew we weren't getting all the answers. No matter what conclusions I came to while watching, I knew I was going to be pleasantly surprised when the end rolled around.
I can't give anything more away story-wise for the sake of not spoiling it, but I'm sure anyone who has the internet has already heard about the ending. But you won't find it here, at least not from me. I think 10 Cloverfield Lane was a great film that couldn't quite fit into one box - thriller, horror, sci-fi, mystery, suspense, drama... the list goes on, and director Dan Trachtenberg really made sure to spread the story out in as many ways as he possibly could. I think for the most part apocalyptic fiction has and always will be an interesting genre, so when there's a refreshing way to tell an apocalyptic story it's always exciting, and if executed well, it will always be successful. Not only do we get a mysterious storyline of what-ifs and why's, but we get a great story about people and their will to survive no matter the circumstance.
Stevie Kopas, HMS