10 Cloverfield Lane [Blu-ray] [2016] [Region Free]

Arrived on time and in great condition thank you

A few years ago, ‘Cloverfield’ was released. If you missed it, it was one of those ‘found footage’ films where everything is shot by the point of view of one really annoying character who won’t put the camera down no matter how much danger comes their way. Sorry, I digress. I really don’t like the ‘found footage’ genre. I find it cheap, annoying and just downright implausible. It was because of this that – despite ‘Cloverfield’ being a massive hit, I hated it. A giant Godzilla-like alien monster started rampaging through a major U.S. city and the story was about a small band of survivors fleeing the area. One of them had to film the hold experience because… I don’t know. I just remember getting really frustrated with the film because he wouldn’t stop filming even when his leg was being eaten by little monsters. Anyway, it was because of that which meant I wasn’t that bothered about seeing this sequel. Only it’s not a sequel. Or is it?For a start it’s not ‘found footage’ any more (hooray!) and we meet a girl who gets into a bad car accident on the way home. She’s dragged from the wreckage by good ol’ John Goodman who takes her home and they live happily ever after. Only joking. He’s actually a paranoid nut-job who built a ‘perfect’ survival bunker just in case the world should happen to end and he wanted to go on living. So, our heroine wakes up there, injured and a little frightened. Especially as Mr Goodman won’t let her leave. The closest she gets is the reinforced steel door where she can look out over the stricken world. Only it’s not that stricken. It looks quite normal, but Goodman swears that there’s enough fallout out there to nuke a cockroach from the inside out. So, she’s trapped, with no idea what’s happened. Can she get out? Should she, even if she could?Anyway, because most people have either seen, or are aware of, the first movie with the giant monster etc, we assume something bad has indeed happened to the rest of the world. Only this film doesn’t really follow on from the original ‘Cloverfield.’ So, the longer it goes on, you wonder whether you’re actually watching a sequel at all, or another film that has sort of piggybacked off its name/fame and has created something different all together. ‘Cloverfield’ was a big budget monster/horror movie whereas ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ is small, low budget and confined to the bunker for the whole time.And, in my opinion, it’s the superior movie by far. John Goodman is excellent as the paranoid nutter who is probably the last person you want to be stuck on Earth with and you’re rooting for our heroine to escape (assuming there’s a world left to escape to!). It’s more psychological horror than giant-monsters-crushing-New-York-horror and it’s all the better for it. I hear that some people weren’t too keen on the ending, but, even if you hate it, you should hopefully enjoy the preceding 90% enough to just ignore the very last few scenes. I wouldn’t watch Cloverfield again, but I’d definitely watch this in a few years time.

Back in 2008, the found footage movie  Cloverfield [DVD ] snuck up on people, nobody knowing anything about it till the trailers first came out.Eight years later, the same production company pulled the same trick with 10 Cloverfield Lane.Michelle [Mary Elizabeth Winstead] is a lady who runs away from problems. At the start of the film, she is doing just that once again. When her car goes off the road. She wakes up in a room seemingly the prisoner of Howard [John Goodman]. But then finds he's actually saved her life. They are in his underground bunker. An attack has left the world above uninhabitable. There's another man there called Emmett. And there's enough in the bunker for the three of them to survive.They just can't go above ground. Or they will die.All seems fine, and bunker life begins affably enough. But Michelle is increasingly suspicious of just how much she can trust Howard...Not a found footage movie. Not a monster movie of the traditional kind. This is a three hander character drama suspense movie that plays out over a limited number of sets. But when you let good actors get good character roles and focus on that, the results are good. As happens here. The movie is very suspenseful, as you really have no idea what will happen next. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a reliable actress and delivers again here, making Michelle a character you can root for. John Goodman also turns in a superbly unpredictable performance.Things proceed in this fashion for a very watchable first two thirds of the film.Then it goes another way.Hard to say too much more without spoilers, but the rest of the film does finish off a very solid character arc. And reveal more about the title. Those who wanted more of the same as in the original will be disappointed, but this is the best kind of sequel. One that does something completely different from the original. And yet does connect with it.But ultimately it's an entertaining watch, and worth a look.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English.Subtitles: English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish.The disc goes straight into the menu screen when loaded without any trailers or ads.Extras:A commentary from the producer and the director.Three featurettes:Cloverfield Too. An eight minute overview of the film. Since it's a few minutes longer than these usually are, it manages to be more in depth than the usual promotional featurette, so it's a good watch.Bunker Mentality. Three minutes about the movie sets.End of story. Two minutes about the last act of the film.Both of those two are short, but pretty good viewing.