Cloverfield is a 2008 American found footage monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams, and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, and T. J. Miller. The plot follows six young New York City residents fleeing from a massive monster and various other smaller creatures that attack the city during a farewell party.
Development began when producer J. J. Abrams started conceptualizing a new monster and enlisted Neville Page to design the creature, called Clover. In February 2007, the project was secretly greenlit by Paramount Pictures and produced by Abrams's Bad Robot Productions. Principal photography took place in Los Angeles and New York City in 2007. The project had several working titles, including Slusho, Cheese, and Greyshot. As part of a viral marketing campaign, a teaser trailer was released ahead of screenings of Transformers (2007) without a title. The final title was revealed in a second teaser trailer attached to screenings of Beowulf (2007). With limited pre-release details, it garnered online speculation, including forums and websites dedicated to uncovering hidden information about the film. Several tie-ins, including a prequel manga series, were released as part of the marketing campaign.
Cloverfield was released on January 18, 2008, and received positive reviews from critics, who praised Reeves's direction and the cinéma vérité style narrative. It earned $172 million worldwide at the box office against a $25 million budget. It is the first installment of the Cloverfield franchise, followed by 10 Cloverfield Lane in 2016 and The Cloverfield Paradox in 2018. A direct sequel is in development.
Plot[]
The film is presented as footage from a personal camcorder recovered by the United States Department of Defense in the area "formerly known as Central Park", bearing a disclaimer stating multiple sightings of a case designated Cloverfield.
Older, saved footage from April 27, shows Robert "Rob" Hawkins waking up with Elizabeth "Beth" McIntyre in her father's apartment above Columbus Circle before sharing a special day across New York City and Coney Island. Fragments of this overwritten footage appear during the course of the film.
On May 22, Rob has a farewell party by his brother Jason and Jason's girlfriend Lily, celebrating Rob's new job as vice-president for a company in Japan. Jason gets Rob’s best friend Hudson "Hud" Platt to film testimonials for Rob during the party. Beth, who Rob has now broken up with, brings a new man to the party. Beth and Rob argue over her guest, and Beth leaves shortly before a massive earthquake occurs, causing a brief citywide power outage; the local news reports a capsized oil tanker near Liberty Island. From the roof, the party-goers witness an explosion in the distance and flee as flaming debris flies in their direction.
As the party-goers leave the building, the severed head of the Statue of Liberty is hurled into the street in front of them. In the chaos, Hud records an enormous creature several blocks away collapsing the Woolworth Building. During the group's planned evacuation of Manhattan, the creature's tail destroys the Brooklyn Bridge, killing Jason and dozens of other people. News reports show the Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division attacking the monster. Smaller parasite creatures fall off its body and attack nearby pedestrians and soldiers.
Rob listens to a phone message from Beth, in which she indicates she is trapped in her apartment at the Time Warner Center and unable to move. Going against the crowd, Rob, Hud, Lily, and Hud’s crush, Marlena Diamond, venture into Midtown Manhattan to rescue Beth. By 3:17 a.m., they get caught in a battle between the creature and the Army National Guard, run into the subway, and are attacked by several of the parasites. While saving Hud, Marlena is bitten by one of the creatures. The four escape the subway and enter a below ground mall where she begins to feel unwell. They are found by military and taken to a command center and field hospital nearby. In reaction to being bitten, Marlena begins bleeding from her eyes. She is forcibly taken into a tent, where she appears to explode. Rob, still intending on saving Beth, persuades one of the military leaders to let them go. He is then informed when the last evacuation helicopter will depart before the military executes its "Hammer Down Protocol", which will destroy Manhattan in its entirety in order to kill the monster.
They travel to Beth's apartment building to discover it toppled on its side. After crossing roofs from the opposite building, the group finds her impaled on exposed rebar. They free her and make their way to the evacuation site at Grand Central Terminal, where they encounter the creature again. Lily is first rushed into a departing Marine Corps helicopter to escape before the terminal is destroyed. Moments later, Rob, Beth, and Hud are taken away in a second helicopter and witness the creature being bombed. The bombing causes the creature to fall and success is assumed, but then it lunges out of the smoke, hitting the helicopter and causing it to crash in Central Park, killing the pilot and everyone inside except Rob, Beth, and Hud.
Less than an hour later, a voice on the crashed helicopter's radio warns that the Hammer Down protocol will begin in fifteen minutes. The three friends regain consciousness, and attempt to flee; Hud turns back to retrieve the camera when the creature suddenly appears and kills him. Rob and Beth grab the camera and take shelter under an arch as sirens blare, and the bombing starts. Rob and Beth each provide their last testimony of the day's events. The bridge begins to crumble, and the camera is knocked out of Rob's hand and buried beneath rubble. Rob and Beth proclaim their love for each other just as the bomb explodes, the camera freezing up before the footage cuts.
The film ends with the finale of Rob and Beth's trip to Coney Island on a Ferris wheel. Unseen by them, an indiscernible object falls from the sky into the ocean. Just before the camera cuts out, Beth states, "I had a good day." After the credits, a voice can be heard saying, "Help us..." When played in reverse, it says, "It's still alive."