Cloverfield
Matt Reeves ' 2008 sci - fi horror , Cloverfield , is widely regarded as an excellent beast feature and found footage movie , but its monster - and vogue - is most dead suited for Lovecraftian horror .
With a history by Drew Goddard , Cloverfieldplayed on consultation ' fears of a fiend invasion much in the same way thatGodzillamovies have done in the past tense . While the animate being feature is nothing new , there ’s a particular submarine - set for foreign and creature invasions , because it highlights just how vast the universe is and how much humans do n’t know about . JJ Abrams ( Star Trek , Lost ) was originally inspired by Kaiju toys that he look when he was visiting Japan , and the creature itself was inspired by many different animals to cement its singular countenance .
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OtherCloverfieldmovies have been drop on audience as a surprise because the traditional knowledge is wide enough to companion other projects by recalibrating them to tally aCloverfieldstory . This is what happened with both10 Cloverfield LaneandThe Cloverfield Paradox . special detail release about the pic prompted much conjecture from journalists , who proposed it could be everything from a follow - up toLostor even a connectedness toVoltron . The mystery both behindCloverfield ’s beast , do it as Clover , and its marketing make the franchise very much worthy of the Lovecraftian word form .
Cloverfield Is A Lovecraftian Horror Movie - Here’s Why
While films likeKing Kongand other elephantine fauna films often desire to put the colossus front and centre of attention , Lovecraftian and cosmic horror play more off of the unknown , andCloverfieldfollows in strain with this manner of thought process , only showing the full beast for bare second at the end . Other films , such asThe Blair Witch Projecthave deploy this method of motion-picture photography , which relies on " shaky cam " shots and standout performances from doer to betray the Platonism of what ’s happening around them . However , The Blair Witch Projecttook a minimalistic approaching , which simply can not be done in a movie about a gargantuan , city - smashing teras . Or it seemed unlikely untilCloverfield ’s acquittance .
In many way , Cloverfieldstrikes a well-chosen mass medium between a vast megahit and a small , indie project by utilizing telling CGI and creature design with more intimate camera angles and found footage revulsion as its primary genre . H.P. Lovecraft was also very attuned with a trend that incorporated an approach that ferment harder to tell than show . William Eubank ’s 2020 aquatic horror film , Underwater , brought a satiny approaching to its movie about scientists on the brink of discovery much likeRidley Scott’sAliendid for the sci - fi horror sub - genre back in the 70s .
Both of these could be argue as Lovecraftian repulsion , as they bank on a slow reveal of its creature and deal in the fearfulness of the unknown;Alienhits this more direct on the nose , as they are out in outer space for the duration of the picture show and other films in this show the Ancient One answer to humans awakening them . Eubanks corroborate that his creature inUnderwaterwas one of Lovecraft ’s most iconic : Cthulhu . The main reason whyCloverfieldfits in with all of these other films that are either immediately involved or just on the edges of being Lovecraftian is because it proves just how vast and unusual the universe can be , with sudden events - like the encroachment inColor Out Of Space- occur dead , and proving just how insignificant humanity is on a much grander scale .
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