Found footage films really began flooding the market after the success of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, as they’re often cheaper to make and quicker to shoot than most feature films that hit the market. Though with those upsides for studios more often than not comes the downside of the movies being mediocre. The smaller budget involved means less risk, so even when a movie is poorly received it could make back its budget in one weekend and the rest was gravy. However, within the pile of found footage duds there are some gems that make it all worthwhile, and this year we celebrate the 15th anniversary of one of those films in Cloverfield.
Not only is the film getting a 4K release, but it’s getting a beautiful limited edition Steelbook release as well. This Steelbook has a slipcase that has the lens of a camera on it, the name of the movie, as well as the busted up Statue of Liberty captured lens of the camera. The slipcase is otherwise clear, which allows some of the art from the case to show through, which sees the REC of the camera up on the top left corner, and the battery life in the upper right. It’s stylistic and fits the vibe of the film perfectly. Overall it’s an awesome slipcase that works wonderfully as a little bit of extra protection for the Steelbook itself, as well as an extra layer of art for collectors of these cases.
For those who may want to discard the slipcase and stick to the Steelbook itself, that’s fine too. Once you slide off the plastic layer you’re left with the visuals of a New York in flames with the mysterious monster terrorizing the city right in the middle of it. There’s no title card here, no names of actors or anything of the likes. Instead of seeing a reflection in the lens like we do on the slipcase, the front of the case is the view of all this destruction as seen through the lens itself. The REC is still upper left, and the battery upper right, and the whole camera vibe carries through nicely regardless of how you want to display it.
The backside of the case is a lot cleaner than the front, with no camera art or anything like that. It does have the same somewhat static layer over it, to indicate the view is being seen through a recorded video, but it’s subtle and has it so that it matches the front and visuals of the film. There’s not much to the back other than more of New York in shambles, with explosions going off and the light of a helicopter in the distance. I think it’s a great way to handle the back and it complements the cover more than it simply being left black, or changing the visuals up entirely would’ve done.
The inside of the Steelbook is my favourite, as it’s always fun to see what scene they’ll choose, or art they’ll place in there that not only pops, but survives being split down the middle visually. Here they’ve chosen extremely well, as we’ve got the camera on the ground, with one of the characters reaching back to help up their fallen comrade, all while the world behind/in front of them is being destroyed. It’s mainly green, with small hints of colour and the red of the record button, but that’s it. As a whole this is a fantastic choice of visual to open up to when pulling out a disc, as it gets you right in the mood for the intensity that’s about to come when you pop that disc into your machine.
As a whole this is a top tier Steelbook release that fans of the film should be thrilled to pick up. It’s simple, yet effective, much like the film itself. I’m not sure if there are those who dislike the slipcase approach to these releases, or if they simply prefer when everything is printed directly onto the case itself; however, I personally like this one and think it adds to the release overall. I do think leaving the slipcase out when possible is the best route to go, but if it’s handled as well as it is here then I’m all for the choice.
As for the film itself, Cloverfield was a movie that appeared out of the blue, as nobody knew it was even being filmed and then all of a sudden it had a release date and a bunch of buzz about what the movie was going to be. It was a massive box office hit, grossing over $170 million against its high-for-the-sub-genre $25 million budget. It had J.J. Abrams attached as a producer, and relatively unknown at the time Matt Reeves behind the camera.
What works best for Cloverfield is that it’s paced incredibly well, as we’re introduced to this young cast of characters who are throwing a farewell party for their friend Rob (Michael Stahl-David) who is set to head off to Japan. This is why the night is being filmed, as that’s always something that I feel has to be done right in order for these movies to work. There are plenty of found footage movies out there where there’s absolutely no way that anyone would continue filming or documenting what they’re going through as they’re being hunted, chased, haunted or whatever it may be. If their reasoning is cheesy or illogical, or not given at all, then it takes away from the movie as it all feels forced.
Here we have one of Rob’s friend’s, Hudson (T.J. Miller) filming testimonials and goodbyes for the video that they’re going to gift Matt and then when everything goes to hell he just continues to document things so that people know what happened. It’s sort of protection for the group as they’re attempting to make their way to safety, and it all just fits, so it makes sense that it’d be filmed and so we can just sit back and take it all in – and that’s where the film’s pacing takes center stage.
Cloverfield comes in at a brisk 85-minutes in length, and it’s not long into the movie before this unknown monster attacks the city and everyone is sent running for their lives. From there we’re taken on a steady-cam journey through the streets of New York and it’s intense. Reeves does a fantastic job of keeping the camera moving so that it’s true to how things would be going down, while also allowing the viewer to take in all the hellacious devastation that’s constantly happening around our protagonists. We catch just enough glimpses of the monster early on to let us know its size, and it plays out perfectly from there.
The characters themselves aren’t the deepest, but they do seem like normal people in an extraordinary situation and you feel for them. It’s effective where it needs to be on an emotional level, and for the most part it’s the intensity and pacing that are what matter most here. I’ll never tire of pointing out how crazy it is when anniversary releases appear, as it’s always hard to believe so much time has passed since I saw these movies often theatrically. With Cloverfield there are likely plenty of people who have never seen it, as it could easily get lost in the mix of found footage films released during that decade or so of craziness; however, if you have missed it then I highly recommend you pick this up, as it’s one of the shining stars in the found footage category, and not one that should be missed.
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
4K Blu-ray Video and Audio Review
Being a found footage film, Cloverfield doesn’t benefit from the 4K boost the same way that normal films do, as the entire point of a found footage movie is for it to look like it’s shot by an amateur with no real regard for proper lighting, placement or anything like that. Still, the movie does look fantastic and benefits from the colour and vibrancy boost that Dolby Vision provides, giving that extra oomph to the film’s more natural lighting and feel.
On the audio side of things the Dolby Audio 5.1 track is a carryover from the previous Blu-ray release, so no Dolby Atmos to be found here. That said, this film doesn’t suffer from any audio issues, as the 5.1 surround sound absolutely delivers from all fronts when it comes to pulling the viewer into the film from an audio standpoint. There are no complaints to be had here, so if you didn’t experience the film theatrically, this is as close as you’ll get and it’s a damn good comparison.
Special Features
Audio Commentary: Director Matt Reeves – This one is self-explanatory and a great listen for fans of moviemaking, as Reeves was relatively new to the game when he shot this film, but has proven to be one of Hollywood’s biggest directors since! A must listen to for fans!
Special Investigation Mode – This is something that is hugely entertaining for your third or fourth watch and you’re looking to spice things up a bit without worrying about being completely engrossed in the film itself. Here you’ve got the screen broken up into sections, one of which is a map that shows where the film’s monster is and where the humans are, and there’s just a lot of cool stuff going on. You’ve got facts popping up throughout touching on the characters as well as the monster, and it’s all just a lot of fun that more movie special features should aim to follow in their own unique ways.
Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield – Here we’ve got a feature that’s just under 30-minutes in length and we hear from producer J.J. Abrams, producer Bryan Burk, as well as Reeves and various cast members who delve into some of the making-of aspects of the movie for those who want to learn more about how they made things happen.
Cloverfield Visual Effects – This feature comes in at just under 23-minutes in length and focuses on the effect-heavy aspects of the film, which is where a lot of the time was spent in the making of the movie. Again, fans should appreciate the look behind the camera and getting to see how everything came to be.
I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge! – Here we’ve got a shorter featurette that comes in at just under 6-minutes in length and it touches on the origin of the creature, how the design came to be and why it’s doing what it’s doing.
Clover Fun – This featurette is just under 4-minutes in length and is an outtake/gag reel of sorts, which is a fun, quick watch.
Deleted Scenes – Here we’ve got some deleted scenes if you’re interested, all have optional commentary from Reeves.
Alternate Endings – Finally we’ve got two alternate endings for the movie that fans may want to check out! Again, both have optional commentary by Reeves to learn why certain choices were made.
Paramount Pictures Presents Cloverfield 15th Anniversary Limited-Edition Steelbook. Directed by: Matt Reeves. Written by: Drew Goddard. Starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman. Running time: 85 minutes. Rating: 14A. 4K Blu-ray Steelbook Released: Jan. 17, 2023.
