Saw Clovefield this morning and the film has been haunting me all day. It’s abstractness, catching glimpses of the monster here and there, trying to figure it out, has left me distracted and scouring the Web for more information.
A commenter I read at one site said to watch the ocean carefully in the background of the film’s final shot. I wish I’d had this advice before going into the film, because I definitely thought I saw something going on there; although, I am also certain that whatever it was, would only raise more questions.
What is the monster? The kids at the comic shop believed it was a creation of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthuhlu mythos, which would explain its seemingly supernatural nigh-invulnerability. One of the film’s characters suggests it might have come from the sea, which would explain the ravenous lice that rain from its body, what might have been air-bladders on it’s neck, and its fin-like tail. This same character also suggests space and top-secret government projects.
The unknowable nature of this film’s monster and much of its action is what brought me into its world. One character’s death is extremely unnerving because we don’t get to see it directly, but what we see in the shadows makes our imaginations run wild with gruesome possibilities. This is a film that, despite it’s high-budget, wholly convincing special effects, wisely relies on the audience’s imagination to fuel its believability.
The mysteries of this film, all the questions it raises, not the answers, are what made it so effective at leaving the audience disturbed and seeking any details that might help figure it out. It’s a film that will lend itself to weeks of debate and speculation.
While Cloverfield gave me bad chills, a teaser trailer before the film (also by Cloverfield’s director) tingled my spine in a very good way:
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