6 Things You Need To Know About The Secret Cloverfield Sequel The World's Been Waiting For
"Monsters come in many forms."
Published for United International Pictures, 30 Mar 2016, 12:00 PM
Just as mysteriously as Cloverfield had made its first appearance, 10 Cloverfield Lane followed in similar fashion when its trailer surfaced barely 2 months before its theatrical premiere in the US
In 2007, audiences eagerly waiting for their Transformers screening to start were treated to a trailer for a monster movie without a title. Film fans, electrified at having the wool pulled over their eyes, were teased into a frenzy of anticipation. The result, eventually titled Cloverfield, earned USD170.8 million against a USD25 million budget when it made its debut in January 2008.
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This year, Paramount surprised audiences by once again attaching an untitled trailer to a Michael Bay film, 13 Hours: Soldiers of Benghazi. When 10 Cloverfield Lane's film name finally surfaced, the question on everyone's mind was: Did J.J. Abrams somehow secretly produce a sequel to Matt Reeves’ found footage sci-fi film Cloverfield?
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And it's safe to say the “very creepy trailer that starts out fun but then gets really dark" impressed even the most weathered film fans
The brilliantly cut (and deceptively upbeat) teaser shows life in some sort of underground bunker, as a girl with a brace on her leg (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a boy with a broken arm (John Gallagher Jr.) and a man with a gun strapped to his back (John Goodman) try to kill the time. As Tommy James and the Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now" plays over a jukebox, it soon becomes clear that something sinister is happening.
rollingstone.comA lot of theories have been surrounding the film, some more outrageous than others, but here's what we know for sure:
1. It's not a sequel in the traditional sense
Producer J.J. Abrams confirms that it's more of a "blood relative" than a straightforward sequel, suggesting that 10 Cloverfield Lane takes place within the same universe. Despite that, its exact ties to Cloverfield remain unknown, keeping the film even more anticipated than ever for fans of Cloverfield.
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2. The on-point storytelling will make you wonder what's out there (and if we'll see Clover again)
A young woman gets into a car accident and wakes up in a small concrete room, her leg shackled to the wall. Howard, a doomsday prepper, explains that he's rescued her; there's been some sort of attack and everybody outside is dead. Together with another survivor, Emmett, they're tucked away inside the underground bunker, with enough supplies to stay safe for as long as necessary. Bu just what exactly are they hiding from?
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3. Don't expect the found footage format
The raw handheld aesthetic of Cloverfield is gone from this instalment, but that doesn't make 10 Cloverfield any less suspenseful thanks to Jeff Cutter's deliberate, precise cinematography.
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4. It’s The Walking Dead composer's feature film debut
If you're a fan of Battlestar Galactica or Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., you would have heard Bear McCreary’s work. In 10 Cloverfield Lane, the musical maestro brings out the claustrophobia and dread with a little help from the yayli tanbur, a Turkish lute. He says, "It’s meant to be a rich and low sound but at its highest register, it takes on an otherworldly character."
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Look out also for the comeback of The Blaster Beam, resembling an alien spaceship crossed with a 15-foot-long pedal steel guitar, of which the sounds you might recognise from classic science fiction scoring of the 70s and 80s. McCreary explains, "It can easily play far below the bottom A of a grand piano, the lowest string of an upright bass, or the deepest growls of a contrabassoon. The sound is terrifying, familiar and yet alien."
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5. If you liked the Portal short film, you're probably ecstatic to know this is Dan Trachtenberg's feature film debut
Director Dan Trachtenberg first got widespread attention online for a short film based on the Portal video games — which also happened to open with a woman waking up in a featureless concrete room under mysterious circumstances — and while he’s continued to work on short-form, web-based projects, 10 Cloverfield Lane is lauded as remarkably deft work from a first-time feature director.
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6. Winstead got a little help for her outstanding performance from a 39°C fever
Her performance as weary-but-still-determined Michelle may have been the result of a high fever, and the actress had to film the vital concluding sequence while she had the flu. Trachtenberg says, "I think a lot of her emotion came from 'Ugh I’m really in misery. I’ve been put through so much.' That's why it’s so palpable."
Ready to find out just what's lurking beyond the underground bunker? Catch 10 Cloverfield Lane in cinemas starting 7 April 2016!
