Howdy there, Scream Freaks! You know, being a horror host ain’t the easiest thing in a relationship. Tends to lead to a lot of arguments regardin’ horror entertainment, especially when your soul mate’s a kindred horror fan themselves. Mandy and I killed some time watching the new Cloverfield movie over the weekend, and came out fightin’ over whether or not it was a good movie. Despite falling asleep a time or 2, she declares it a bonafide good time at the movies. Me on the other hand . . .
Personally, I think the biggest mistake was the movie slapping the Cloverfield name on it. Immediately, you’re picturing all the giant alien action from the motion sickness picture of 2008, and that’s all you can think about and wait for. This was an unfortunate disservice to John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead whose acting was phenomenal. Goodman scares us as a doomsday nut who drags Winstead into his underground bunker for safety when it looks like the apocalypse has arrived, and keeps her there for fear of what’s happening outside. Winstead then struggles with whether or not to believe Goodman’s crazy claims since she was knocked out when everything supposedly went down, and if she should plot an escape from her savior/captor. Sounds pretty intense, right?
But all this wonderful tension and suspense is undercut by the fact the movie has Cloverfield in the title, so you already figure there are aliens attacking outside and just wait for Winstead to catch up to what you already know. Which doesn’t happen until the last 10-15 minutes of the movie. That’s right, aliens don’t zip in until the final reel, and would have been a bigger payoff if we didn’t know what to expect with a different title. If sticking with the title was so important, I think I would have given fans more of what they expected, and had aliens try to get in the bunker at the top of the hour, and make it more Winstead fighting Goodman and aliens at the same time. But like I always tell Mandy when she gets defensive, “Opinions are like assholes. Everyone’s got one, and they all stink!” And I’m always pointing out I like killer tomato movies, so I’m not the best one to argue good movies with.
Despite all my critiques of the film, however, Goodman plays a great villain you’d never want to run into, and Winstead is one kick-ass heroine who has to be the fastest think-on-your-feet last girl I’ve seen since You’re Next! It’s funny how much of a difference a title alone made for how much I enjoyed the film.
Other than that, be sure to catch up on Screaming Soup! Seasons 1-2 after watching the latest Season 3 episodes, check out this week’s Howl’n Hottie, read recent reviews for the newer horror films we’re watching in our R-Rated Reviews blog, and help us get the word out about the web’s #1 animated horror host show! Please use our social buttons in the upper right corner of the site and follow our tweets, subscribe to our Youtube channel, like our Facebook, watch and share all our vids, and keep that fan mail coming.
I’ll see ya later, Scream Freaks!
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