While the debate over what deserves credit as the first found footage thriller has never quite been resolved (the subgenre does, indeed, predate 1999’s The Blair Witch Project) and the success of the Paranormal Activity movies would lead to its massive boom in popularity, I think there is no denying that the spark of its modern mainstream appeal was the release of Cloverfield. That being said, it is still hard to believe that this cleverly framed, character-driven take on the monster movie genre roared into theaters 15 years ago.
Furthermore, the innovative cult favorite would spawn an anthological franchise of horror movies with equally bizarre concepts and horrifying tones, but also a more traditional narrative structure. Regardless, watching all the Cloverfield movies together makes for a fun triple feature, so allow us to show you how to check them out on streaming, as digital rentals, or on physical media.
Cloverfield (2008)
(Image credit: Paramount)
From producer J.J. Abrams and writer Drew Goddard, director Matt Reeves’ feature-length debut follows a group of twenty-something New Yorkers who throw their friend (Michael Stahl-David) a going away party before he leaves for a job in Japan, until the festivities are cut short by the emergence of a strange, gigantic creature wreaking havoc on the city.
What makes this thriller — which also had a killer ad campaign — one of the most unique and best monster movies of its time is by framing it as footage captured by characters with their own camcorder, resulting in an immersive, terrifying, and even heartbreaking experience, with much credit in the last category due to the exceptional Cloverfield cast.
After eight years of dormancy, director Dan Trachtenberg of future Prey fame revived the Cloverfield franchise and took things in an entirely new direction. Ditching the found footage concept and the monstrous antagonist, the follow-up focuses on a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, unaware she was in a Cloverfield movie during filming) who awakens from an accident in an underground bunker, owned by a mysterious man (John Goodman) who claims that only danger lurks outside.
Also starring John Gallagher Jr. and featuring a vocal cameo by Bradley Cooper, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a riveting thriller with an explosive, surprise third act that paradoxically fuses overtones of claustrophobia with agoraphobia into one masterful blend.
Keeping in line with the franchise’s reputation for surprise, the third installment was released as a Netflix original movie the same day that it was announced, after the Super Bowl, in 2018. Also surprising was the way director Julius Onah’s The Cloverfield Paradox — which follows a crew of scientists orbiting a desperate Earth who suddenly find themselves trapped in an alternate reality — attempts to unlock the mysteries of the original film by showing it from the perspective of an another.
That is about all that we are at liberty to reveal about this high-concept space oddity featuring a the talents of Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Bruhl, and Chris O’Dowd, to name a few.
It appears that a fourth Cloverfield movie — which is meant to be a direct continuation of the original — is in the works. Until we are able to add it to this streaming guide, enjoy the current trilogy!
