Certificate:

Director: Matt Reeves

Release Date: 1 February 2008

Tagline: Some thing has found us.

Main Cast:

T.J. Miller … Hud

Michael Stahl-David … Rob Hawkins

Jessica Lucas … Lily

The tagline for this film should have been “The Chewits Monster is alive and well and trashing New York” (apologies if you are too young to remember the advert for the rather tasty sweets!). Actually, it’s more of a cross between Godzilla, Alien and the Rancor from Return of the Jedi.

This is a very messy film. It tries to be edgy, scary and full of suspense but fails on all counts. It’s also very unoriginal. It ‘borrows’ elements from many other films that are much better, such as the rats fleeing the danger (seen in 28 Days Later if memory serves), the Alien like creatures, the bridge scene (from War of the Worlds) and, most obvious of all, The Blair Witch Project.

Cloverfield tries to emulate TBWP, but where that film succeeded and this one fails is in the complete lack of growing suspense and tension. In Cloverfield we go from normal to ‘terror’ in about 30 seconds. I wasn’t really a fan of TBWP, but I appreciated its originality. Sadly, there is none to be seen here.

Another of it’s major problems was the fact that none of the characters were engaging or likeable. If you don’t care about the characters then a film is soulless. Personally, I’d have been very happy if they’d all had their heads ripped off.

Also, is it just me or does anyone else think that the collapsing building and subsequent dust cloud is rather tasteless? If I had either been in or lost someone in the 9/11 attack then I wouldn’t be deriving much entertainment from that scene. Don’t tell me that the film is an allegory for 9/11 – it’s not that clever.

What was this creature? Where did it come from? What were the little creatures? Why was this pile of crap commissioned? So many questions, and no answers.

Rating: