This article contains SPOILERS for 10 Cloverfield Lane.
10 Cloverfield Lanewas a sequel that only had a vague connection to the original movie, and it worked surprisingly well. Released in 2016,10 Cloverfield Lanewas a sequel to Matt Reeves’ 2008 found-footage movie,Cloverfield, a movie which followed six New York residents escaping the city as various monsters attacked.Cloverfieldsparked a movie franchise, gained Matt Reeves widespread attention for his fresh take on the found footage style. and even inspired other monster movies.
Despite10 Cloverfield Lanebeing a sequel, the film barelyshared connections to the originalCloverfieldmovie, in terms of plot and characters.10 Cloverfield Lanefollows a young woman who wakes up in an underground bunker with two strange men who claim Earth’s surface is now inhabitable.The third-person narrative and tone of10 Cloverfield Lanewas a far cry fromCloverfield’sfrantic style, but surprisingly, it made the sequel one of the best psychological thrillers of its time.
10 Cloverfield Lane Was One Of The 2010s' Best Psychological Thrillers
The Cloverfield Sequel Kept Audiences Guessing
After waking in a bunker following a car crash, an injured Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) finds herself chained up. An older man called Howard (John Goodman) reveals himself as her captor, claiming he took her in to save her life; an unknown attack has left the air outside poisoned, so she must remain inside with him and another man called Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.).The tension in10 Cloverfield Laneis palpable from the beginning, as the young woman finds herself trapped with two men, and it’s not hard to see why it became one of2010s' best psychological thrillers.
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Throughout10 Cloverfield Lane, tensions ebb and flow as personalities clash and suspicions are aroused, especially whenMichelle begins to find some worrying clues hidden throughout the bunker which suggest that Howard has not revealed the whole truthabout their current situation.10 Cloverfield Laneis very different fromCloverfield, with the former having a sense of claustrophobic tension that will make the audience as confused as the main character.
10 Cloverfield Lane Has Almost Nothing To Do With Cloverfield
The Sequel’s Ending Offers A Slight Connection To The Original Cloverfield Movie
Although both movies have “Cloverfield” in their titles, and they were both produced by J. J. Abrams, there are not a lot of connections between10 Cloverfield LaneandCloverfield.The two movies have completely different characters, settings, premises, and styles.For example, Dan Trachtenberg’s directorial debut,10 Cloverfield Lane,was presented completely differently to the previous film’s famous found-footage format, instead offering the typical third-person narrative style. This is somewhat confusing, as audiences would have expected aCloverfieldsequel to be like the original movie, yet10 Cloverfield Laneseparates itself from the original in a lot of ways.
The Cloverfield Paradox(2018) caused the events of theCloverfieldmovies.
However, the connection between the two films is explained in theending of10 Cloverfield Lane. During the 2016 movie, the events outside the bunker became secondary to the mystery of Howard and his strange behavior, but they suddenly become a lot more important at the end, when it’s revealed that10 Cloverfield Laneis set in the same universe asCloverfield. This led to some criticism about the jarring leap into the sci-fi genre, and some felt it undermined the other themes of10 Cloverfield Laneby shoehorning the movie into theCloverfieldfranchise.
10 Cloverfield Lane Would Have Been So Much Better Without The Cloverfield Connection
10 Cloverfield Lane Also Works Well As A Standalone Film
Arguably,10 Cloverfield Lanedidn’t need to be aCloverfieldsequel. Michelle running away from the fight with her fiancée at the beginning of the movie became important at the end of10 Cloverfield Lanewhen she finally decided to stand up for herself.The movie’s focus on character development and drama within an enclosed setting made it a fantastic psychological venture, which suddenly became sidetracked by sci-fi elements and somewhat diminished the film’s impact.
Howard’s explanations for the events outside the bunker would have been even more twisted if they were completely fictitious
The fact that the sequel was not connected to the originalCloverfielduntil the end showcased how it could’ve been a standalone film. In fact, the movie’s initial script had nothing to do withCloverfieldand was calledThe Cellar. Therefore, Howard’s explanations for the events outside the bunker would have been even more twisted if they were completely fictitious, showing a truly deluded character, and amplifying the psychological element. However, his bizarre explanation did sew doubt for Michelle and the audience, so finding out Howard was somewhat telling the truth was a cool shocking twist for10 Cloverfield Lane’sending.
