10 Cloverfield Lane

RATING: B

Well, it's only been eight years, and now they've brought us what they call a "spiritual sequel" to the found-footage sci-fi/horror flick Cloverfield. Kind of a vague term, if you ask me. Is it an actual sequel? A tie-in? Takes place in the same universe? 

The good news about this... um... tie-in is that they dropped the found footage form. This time, they switch to a full-fledged psychological thriller. That pretty much immediately gave the film more hope than its predecessor did. And indeed, we are given much better production values; there are actual actors and an actual script in this film; no shaky cam, no ridiculously inconvenient camera turn-aways.

Unfortunately, I can't say too much about this film's plot; it's better to go into it not knowing a whole lot, especially considering that's how the marketing campaign did things. The film is about some young woman named Michelle who ends up in a bad car accident and wakes up in some underground bunker, where she meets a mysterious stranger named Howard (John Goodman), who claims to have saved her life and that an "attack" (without specifying further) has taken place, leaving the world above uninhabitable, leaving her stuck down there with him and some guy named Emmett. Howard's action begin to seem suspicious though, and Michelle needs to decide if she's safer down here or up there.

This film is ultimately a mostly well-done thriller; it manages to keep the raw tension running throughout, even when not necessarily much is happening; which is managed by the tense music (or lack of music at all), and by John Goodman's brilliant twisted performance of Howard, doing a very good job of seeming easily unhinged. There are some times when the film seems a little slow, but for the most part, it's quite psychologically intense (something you don't see much in films these days, or at least not done effectively) and also has some excitement to go with it (mostly in the final act).

10 Cloverfield Lane may be grouped with Cloverfield in the "Cloververse," but it's quite a different film. It's also a much better one. The other one might have had some moments that were more strictly entertaining, but this one is much more well-made and thrilling. It's not a masterpiece, but considering it's from a genre (thriller) that I have mixed feelings on, it's pretty good. At this point, I'm willing to check out what else the franchise brings--as long as there's no more found footage and it doesn't take 8 years in between movies again.