Are the monsters inside or out at 10 Cloverfield Lane?

Paramount Pictures

So what exactly is 10 Cloverfield Lane? What it isn’t is a sequel to the monster movie Cloverfield, rather a film that is part of a bigger idea under the “Cloverfield” banner. In actuality, the film wasn’t even a part of that universe when scripted or shot, with the original title being “The Cellar” and filmed for Paramount’s smaller Insurge studio which was shut down and the movie was in limbo. Paramount bought it back, some re-writes and re-shooting took place, and retitled to introduce, possibly, a whole anthology of Cloverfield movies.

Sounds like the makings of a cinematic disaster, but this is far from it. 10 Cloverfield Lane begins its focus on a young woman named Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), about to run away from a bad marriage. As she hits the road, her husband keeps calling her cell phone to try to talk, but all she does is listen. In one distracted moment, a loud bang sends Michelle’s car careening off the road.

When Michelle awakens, she is in a small cinder block bunker of a room, brace on her leg, hooked to an IV … and chained to the wall. How did she get here and why is she shackled to the wall? Eventually a man enters the room, explains that he saved her life, but doesn’t give her much more information. As she attempts an escape, the man, Howard (John Goodman), finally reveals some details to her: there was some kind of attack, possibly nuclear or chemical, maybe the Russians, the Chinese or even aliens. Everyone outside is dead. He saved her life, so she should be grateful. They might be able to leave the bunker in a year or two.

This is quite a bit for Michelle to take in, and when she meets Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) another occupant of the very well appointed bunker (Howard has been preparing for something like this for quite some time), she isn’t sure if they’ve both been kidnapped or if Howard is telling the truth. When Emmett admits he hurt is arm trying to get in, it confuses matters even more. But as time passes – and we’re never really sure how much time, but watching a wound on Howard’s forehead heal gives us a sense of some lengthy passage – some of Howard’s stories don’t seem to mesh, making him seem increasingly more like a nutso conspiracy theorist who has gone a bit mad and taken Michelle and Emmett with him.

The last act of the film reveals the truth, but we won’t spoil any of that here. Suffice it to say, the film manages to keep things extremely taut, putting your nerves on edge from the moment Michelle wakes up in the bunker. The majority of the movie only features the three main characters, but Howard’s increasingly unhinged behavior ratchets up the tension, not only for Michelle and Emmett but for the audience as well because we know about as much as Michelle does. It may sound like a deadly dull concept to focus on three characters for 90 minutes, but director Dan Trachtenberg keeps things interesting visually, punctuating the seeming calm with several frightening outbursts that are guaranteed to have you jumping out of your seat.

The cast is uniformly terrific, with Winstead giving Michelle a real determination to survive, very quick to think on her feet, but also smart enough to plan a means of escape … to what, she has no idea. With starring roles in the remake of The Thing, the TV series The Returned, Final Destination 3, Black Christmas and Death Proof, Winstead has taken on the mantle of an intelligent contemporary scream queen. Gallgher is also good as the country bumpkin Emmett, but he’s also smart enough to begin to question Howard and follow Michelle’s lead when it comes time to plan the escape.

Goodman is outstanding as Howard. Most audiences are used to seeing Goodman as the jovial sort, Roseanne Barr’s TV husband, or in some character role in a Coen Brothers movie. Here, he plays Howard as a man of mystery, part benevolent savior, part malevolent madman, but you never know if he is truly one or the other, or both. The story reveals a truth to a lie he told Michelle which once again puts doubt into everyone’s mind about his motives and if everyone outside really is dead. Goodman balances the kindness, sadness and madness quite well, elevating the movie up from what could have been a B-grade, straight-to-video schlockfest.

10 Cloverfield Lane is an edge of your seat, nail-biting, heart-pounding thriller that proves you don’t need hundreds of millions of dollars (the budget was about $5 million) to put a great story with a great cast and great production in front of and behind the camera up on the screen to really deliver what an audience wants. I do implore you to avoid any spoilers before seeing the film as knowing the end will only lessen the impact. If you’re looking for a scary good time at the movies, then this is the film to see.