Maynard and I went to see Cloverfield tonight.

One word review: “excellent.”

But I’ll do a little more talking than just the one word.

First, the movie scared the crap out of me. Not in the “cat thrown from offscreen” way, but in a really real way. It’s bizarre, but the events of the film felt like they could happen even though they rely on a patently fantastical creature.

Second, it feels like a love letter to monster movies. To Godzilla and King Kong. There are elements of cliche but they feel more like homages. The Bad Robot guys obviously did their homework, obviously care about the “monster rampage” genre, and obviously hated the 1998 Godzilla reboot.

Third, the “Blair Witch” style of camera usage does something for the horror. It brings you into it, makes it more real. While it’s obvious that the use of a “personal video camera” can solve certain special effects problems, I don’t think that was what they had in mind when they chose to tell the story from the viewpoint of some Joe Schmoes. These people aren’t heroes. They aren’t Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds: there’s no heroic destroying of the aliens with grenades or anything like that.

And the kid is always dead in the end.

At any rate, it was a wholly enjoyable experience.

And confidential to KBK: they do show the monster, and they do it a lot.