Monsters coming? New 'Cloverfield' from J.J. Abrams on the way
The trailer for the upcoming "10 Cloverfield Lane" gives us second thoughts about hiding from monsters with John Goodman.
Ever since the 2008 film "Cloverfield," I've found myself staring cautiously into dark subway tunnels and hoping no monsters lurk in the shadows.
A follow-up nightmare is coming to theaters March 11.
The teaser trailer for "10 Cloverfield Lane," from J.J. Abrams' production company Bad Robot and Paramount Pictures, debuted in theaters Thursday.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, "10 Cloverfield Lane" stars John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher, Jr. The trio live in a fallout shelter, protected from the world outside. They play games, listen to music and lead a rather banal lifestyle -- until one of them attempts to escape.
"The idea came up a long time ago during production," Abrams told film website Collider. "We wanted to make it a blood relative of 'Cloverfield.' The idea was developed over time."
Because it's a spinoff of the original "Cloverfield," this can't be considered a sequel or prequel, but it seems to be in the same story universe. This can only mean only thing: Monsters are on the way.
The trailer starts with an idyllic, relaxed life of a jukebox playing retro tunes like Tommy James & The Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now" and lot of tabletop games and jigsaw puzzles.
Good luck getting phone reception in an underground bunker. Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars in "10 Cloverfield Lane."
But there's more to this cohabitation than meets the eye. The trailer shows lights flickering as "something" shakes the bunker. Goodman is armed with a handgun, someone is handcuffed and Winstead squeezes herself through a very tight air vent.
Goodman loses his cool and the situation begins to look even bleaker for the threesome, including a fire and someone carving a wooden stake worthy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
As Winstead's character tries to run for the exit, Goodman screams, "Don't open that door! You're going to get all of us killed!" and then calmly, "Something's coming."
According to Slashfilm, the original script for "10 Cloverfield Lane" made the rounds under the title "The Cellar" -- written by by Josh Campbell and Matt Steucken. Damien Chazelle -- and is described as: "Her captor, a doomsday prepper, tells her he saved her life and that there has been a terrible chemical attack that has left the outside uninhabitable. She does not know what to believe and as tensions rise, she decides she must escape, regardless of the terrors that await outside."
Winstead hinted about the movie back in March to Collider and mentioned Goodman. "He tells me that basically the world is over outside because there's been a nuclear fall-out," she said. "You don't know who's telling the truth or who to believe. There's a lot of, who's manipulating who, and all of that."
At the end of the trailer, Winstead's character sees something horrible outside the bunker window that the camera won't give us a glimpse of.
Unlike the 2008 "Cloverfield" directed by Matt Reeves, "10 Cloverfield Lane" is not filmed with the shaky-cam, found-footage visual style but with a more traditional cinematic format.
No word on whether Bad Robot will do a stealth marketing campaign posting "found footage" videos on YouTube like they did in 2008. But knowing Abrams' love for transmedia storytelling, it wouldn't be a shock to see some rather spooky videos pop up on Periscope, Vine or Snapchat to coincide with the movie's marketing. Fingers crossed for monsters on Tinder.
The teaser trailer for "10 Cloverfield Lane" is below. We dare you to dissect the footage to look for a Slusho reference that Abrams likes to sneak into all his projects. That reminds us, where was Slusho in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"?