Cloverfield (2008)

Cloverfield is a 2008 American disaster-monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard. The film follows six young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that a gigantic monster attacks the city. First publicized within a teaser trailer in screenings of Transformers, the film was released on January 17 in New Zealand and Australia, on January 18 in North America, on January 24 in South Korea, on January 25 in Taiwan, on January 31 in Germany and on February 1 in Ireland, in the United Kingdom and in Italy. In Japan, the film was released on April 5. VFX and CGI were performed by effects studios Double Negative and Tippett Studio.

The film is presented as if it were a video segment from a personal video camera recovered by the United States Department of Defense. The film begins with a disclaimer stating that the footage is of a case designated "Cloverfield" and was found in the area "formerly known as Central Park". The video consists chiefly of segments taped the night of May 22 and the morning of May 23. However, those newer segments were inadvertently taped over older video that was filmed on April 27, of a romantic day shared by the characters Rob and Beth. So, as the newer, horrific video stops and starts, the viewer sees glimpses of the earlier, happier day. The first video segment opens when Rob wakes up on the morning of April 27 having slept with Beth, a previously platonic friend. They make plans to go to Coney Island that day. The footage suddenly cuts to May 22, when Rob's brother Jason and his girlfriend Lily prepare a farewell party for Rob who will be moving to Japan. At the party, their friend Hud uses the camera to film testimonials for Rob. While recording, Hud flirts unsuccessfully with Marlena, another party guest. After Beth leaves the party following an argument with Rob, an apparent earthquake strikes, and the city suffers a brief power outage. The local news reports that an oil tanker has capsized near Liberty Island. After going upstairs to investigate the disaster, a devastating explosion that destroys much of Lower Manhattan causes the party-goers to evacuate the building and witness the head of the Statue of Liberty crashing nearby in the street, with several stunning scratch and bite marks. Hud records what appears to be a giant hand of a creature several blocks away. Many take shelter in a convenience store as the Woolworth Building collapses. Rob, Jason, Lily, Hud and Marlena attempt to escape Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge. A gigantic tail destroys the center span of the bridge, killing Jason and hundreds of others. The survivors are forced to flee back to Manhattan. Rob listens to Beth's message saying she is trapped in her apartment and unable to move. The news shows the United States Army's 42nd Infantry Division attacking the monster and smaller, vicious creatures that are falling off its body. Several creatures are seen attacking soldiers and civilians on the ground. As hundreds attempt to flee, Rob, Hud, Lily, and Marlena venture out to rescue Beth. They are soon caught in a crossfire between the monster and the military, and escape into a subway station. They decide to go through the subway tunnels to reach Beth's apartment, but are attacked by several of the smaller creatures that dropped from the monster earlier. One of them wounds Marlena. The group escapes into the Bloomingdale's department store where they are met by a squad of soldiers, who have set up a field hospital and command center in the store. As Rob tries to garner assistance for Beth, Marlena's eyes start bleeding and she is taken away behind a curtain by men wearing hazmat suits where she inflates, then explodes. One of the military leaders allows the others to leave but warns them to report to a military evacuation site before 6:00 am, which is when the last helicopter will evacuate Manhattan before the military enacts its so-called "Hammer Down Protocol," which involves a massive aerial bombardment of the city, in an effort to destroy the monster. The first clear shot of the monster. The group finds Beth's apartment tower at the Time Warner Center has collapsed against the center's other tower. They climb the standing tower and cross onto the roof of Beth's building and work their way down to her apartment. Beth is found, but trapped, and the group is able to free her. After her rescue, the four make their way to the evacuation site where they encounter the monster once more over Grand Central Terminal. Ignoring the firepower from the military, the creature now gives chase to the group toward the evacuation center. Lily is raced into a departing helicopter without her friends. Moments later, Rob, Beth and Hud are taken away in a second helicopter and witness a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bomb the monster. Just as Hud begins hailing victory over the monster, it lunges out of the wreckage and attacks the helicopter, causing it to crash into a grassy clearing in Central Park. The film restarts later in the morning, with a voice on the crashed helicopter's radio warning that the Hammerdown protocol will begin in 15 minutes and states that anyone able to hear the sirens is within the blast zone. The three friends are all alive and have regained consciousness. Hud and Beth pull Rob, who is injured, from the helicopter wreckage, but Hud returns to recover the camera. The monster is then seen standing over him, and Hud is oblivious to Rob and Beth pleading for him to run. Hud only watches the monster in terror, recording it with the camera. After regarding him for a moment, the monster lunges at Hud and kills him in its mandibles, dropping his corpse and the camera on the ground. Rob and Beth grab the still-recording camera and take shelter under Greyshot Arch in Central Park as air raid sirens begin to blare and bombers are heard in the distance, indicating that the Hammerdown protocol is about to begin. Rob and Beth take turns leaving their last testimonies of the day, which Rob mentions as Saturday, May 23, on camera. The creature before attacking Hud. Numerous explosions occur outside as the massive bombing sortie takes place, and the creature is heard roaring in pain. As the bridge crumbles and debris covers the camera, Rob and Beth can be heard professing their love to one another as another bomb destroys the bridge, stopping the camera's recording. The film then cuts to the footage of Rob and Beth's Coney Island date before the disaster. In the distance, unnoticed by Rob and Beth, a large object falls into the ocean.