sam_gamgee | Cloverfield

Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of horror/thriller/monster genre of movies. Normally, I think they're stupid and not at all scary, and therefore see no point in watching them. (The two exceptions being Saw - which scared the crap out of me and AVP - which I geeked out over waaay too much for never having seen any of the Alien or Predator movies.)

So, why did I go see this movie? Because I'm a Drew Goddard fangirl. Yep, that's basically it. (And the reasoning behind going instead of waiting to rent it was that if it had a good opening weekend, that would reflect well on everyone and thereby hopefully Drew will get more work in the future.)

All of that said, I really did like the movie, though the shaky camera got to be a bit much at times. I liked that, while there was build-up for a relationship between two of the characters, it was a very much "day in the life" sort of thing and didn't create a huge epic romance that tends to be the norm for this genre, but more of a driving force/purpose for one of the characters.

I like that the main characters didn't become heroes. So often, the cliche of ordinary-person-becomes-hero-and-saves-the-day is used that I'm kind of tired of it (even if I do sorta-kinda enjoy it in the way that I enjoy romantic comedies). They were ordinary and scared and messed up and did fairly well with what they had.

I like that there wasn't a backstory on the monster. So often there is one and it's rather formulatic. (This, obviously ties into the above paragraph - if your main characters aren't kicking alien ass and taking names, why would they need to know a backstory in order to defeat it?) "OMG, there's a monster, it's destorying Manhattan, we've gotta get out of here" works just as well.

I loved that there wasn't a soundtrack to the movie. Normally this genre relies heavily on music to set mood - "impending doom", "safe", "climatic kiss", you get the idea. And that's fine. As someone who's done sound work in theatre, and who actively listens when I got to the movies, I can appreciate it. But I love that there wasn't a soundtrack for this one, so you have no idea how to feel as you're watching.

I also loved that by the end of the movie all the main characters are dead. I don't know why, but this is a total jackpot for me. I guess because normally the main characters - especially the hero and heroine - are left (barely) standing at the end. This time, not so much.