Slow burn

Despite having nary a sky-scraping kaiju in sight, 10 Cloverfield Lane managed to make my hair stand in a way the original 2008 found-footage monster feature never could. Featuring great acting, a brilliantly written script and impressive directing work, 10 Cloverfield Lane isn't the kind of film that uses jump-scares or freakish monstrosities to induce fear in its characters or its audience. Instead, there is an atmosphere of slow, creeping dread all throughout the film, like the anticipation of creatures around the next corner.

While the creatures never (technically) appear, 10 Cloverfield Lane actually turns out to be all the better for it, instead reminding us of what can sometimes be the most terrifying and familiar of monsters of all: our fellow humans.

After storming out on her boyfriend, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) finds herself in a car accident, which renders her unconscious. As she comes to, she finds herself in a cramped underground doomsday-bunker owned by the erratic Howard (John Goodman), who happened to come upon her unconscious by the road before carrying her to his bunker. He then tells her a horrible truth: America has suffered some sort of "attack", which has all but wiped out the entire population as well as render the outside air "contaminated". The only ones left, as far as he is concerned, are himself, Michelle and his lucky neighbour Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.).  

While seemingly the result of Howard's paranoia and evident mental instability, Michelle soon finds evidence that a disaster has indeed happened. But instead of praising her own good fortune, she quickly learns that Howard's unpredictability makes him almost as dangerous as whatever waits for her outside.

Much of the film's appeal is due mostly to the three actors. Despite largely taking place in no more than a handful of rooms, the actors managed to instil the film with such life that scenes rarely ever feel cramped or boring. This is thanks also in large part to the use of the camera angles, keeping just enough in the frame that is necessary. Wide shots of Michelle crying against the crumbling, partially-painted brick wall of her cell manage to convey the right amount of desolation and hopelessness, while shots of John Goodman's large frame against the light source make Howard's presence a more menacing edge.  

Winstead's Michelle is a headstrong woman with clear trust issues. Unlike the archetypal "kidnappee" in most thriller films, Michelle doesn't cower in fear or waste her breath with constant pleading (at least for long). She takes action, and actually has the courage to even prod and tease her captor, Howard, getting a reaction out of him by making him jealous of her flirting with Emmett.

While more of a supporting character, Gallagher Jr's character provides much of the film's surprisingly generous amount of levity and warmth, though he serves mostly as a device of conflict between the two main characters, existing mostly to bring out Howard's bad side. 

While always seemingly on the verge of a violent outburst, Goodman's character still manages to lure Michelle -- and by extension, me -- into a false sense of security, only to break that again and again. This is only possible thanks to the excellent portrayal of Howard, who manages to switch from terrifyingly menacing to warm and genuine at the clap of a hand, and manages to convince the audience of all of it.

Howard's unpredictability and secrecy is very much the film's source of dread. Right from the beginning, Howard's insistence that Emmett and Michelle both show him more respect for his "generosity" in letting them into his bunker gives the film a strong sense of unease, as Emmett and Michelle start to become unsettled by Howard's controlling and violent temper.

If I had one thing I had to criticise about the film, it would most likely be the last act, which pretty much threw the slow-creeping dread established throughout the film to the wind for a much more predictable ending that felt like it had absolutely nothing to do with what happened in the 90 minutes leading up to it.

While this definitely detracted from the film as a whole, at least for me, it definitely didn't lessen my enjoyment of the aforementioned first portion of the film, or my high recommendation of it. Fans of Cloverfield's slow-burn approach to revealing the main threat can enjoy a similar sense of dread in this film, though the traditional style of 10 Cloverfield Lane and a comparably more grounded story make it accessible and enjoyable to those who aren't, as well.