"10 Cloverfield Lane" Film Review

10 Cloverfield Lane takes place after the nukes were dropped at the end of Cloverfield. We see a new character named Michelle who has decided to leave her boyfriend and move on with her life. She packs the basics and hits the road. Before we know it, someone crashes into her and she wakes up in a holding cell.

The film is paced slower than most horror/suspense films. It genuinely wants you to get invested in the characters and really take in what's going on. There are only three characters throughout the whole movie: Michelle, Howard, and Emmett. Emmett is just your good ol' boy and Michelle is a regular girl with her own goals and dreams. Howard, on the other hand, is a canvas full of personality changes. One minute, he's obsessed with survival and another minute, he's obsessed with Michelle. Is he a pervert or does he just enjoy being controlling?

The acting is what blew me away. John Goodman was spectacular as a psycho. Usually, he's the comedic or dramatic type but this was on a whole different scale. He was truly unnerving. What was even more unnerving, though, is the fact that he reveals he was a family guy, recently divorced - which means, he could be anyone. He could be your best friend, your neighbor, your doctor, or your dad. Anyone could be a Howard. All it takes is one traumatic event to knock some screws completely loose.

The story itself was magnificent, leaving you a trail of breadcrumbs to follow and forcing you to decide for yourself who the real villain is. The tagline for the movie is: "Monsters come in many forms." So is that monster they are alluding to John Goodman's character? Or do they just mean the literal monsters in the two Cloverfield films? You decide.

In conclusion, I can't recommend this film enough. It has everything you could want: mystery, suspense, tension, and a bit of comedy. There are two songs that were handpicked for this film. I don't think I'll ever listen to them the same again.