Make no mistake, 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE is really weird, and it’s really SCARY!
What it’s NOT is a sequel to 2008’s CLOVERFIELD. nor is it CLOVERFIELD 2.
Let’s just say that producer J.J. Abrams‘ new sci-fi shocker is a distant cousin to the original, or as the Abrams likes to refer to it, a “Spiritual Successor.”
And just to make sure there’s no misunderstanding, this isn’t one of those phony “found footage” horror flicks either.
It’s actually a two-in-one doomsday, suspense thriller.
It’s about what’s inside and what is outside a doomsday bunker.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
What we’ve got here is a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) breaking up with her boyfriend.
We see her driving off to hopefully a better future while he keeps calling her on her cell trying to get her to change her mind.
His voice is that of Bradley Cooper.
However along the way there’s this terrible car accident. Did someone run her off the the road?
When she finally awakens she finds herself in an underground cellar with creepy survivalist John Goodman.
Is he insane? Has the world above finally blown itself up?
Or worse yet, is this the Twilight Zone?
Ironically there is another kept person in the cellar played by John Gallagher, Jr.
The question now becomes whether the two can escape—and whether there’s anything left to escape TO?
That’s about as much as I want to reveal here without hitting spoiler territory.
Because what happens next had our screening audience on the edge of their seats.
And no, I didn’t see it coming either……
10 CLOVERFIELD LANE, a small budget thriller with a high impact final act.
My grade—a tension-filled: B+.
(Reviewed at Cinemark, Merriam)
JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Friday mornings during Kansas City’s Morning News on 98.1 FM KMBZ.
Sounds like fun Jack.
It IS! And they made it on a LOW-budget. Goodman has points at the ‘end.’