Case File 015: Cloverfield

April 08, 2020 / Christopher Schrader

Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project. That high-concept premise for Cloverfield was pretty straightforward, but the execution of it was anything but. These days, it's probably remembered as much for the elaborate and immersive ARG campaign as the film itself.

It arguably stands as one of the most effective examples of J.J. Abrams' infamous "mystery box" marketing, but it might also represent the point where a backlash to that approach started to emerge.

From its top secret development to the unlikely franchise that it spawned, we're opening a case file on Cloverfield and adding the first kaiju to our rogues gallery!

Topics include: our memories of the ARG campaign and the marketing of the film, first reactions to the movie, some of the most common criticisms and a few easy fixes, our favorite sequences, how 10 Cloverfield Lane effectively transformed this into an anthology series, the disappointing way The Cloverfield Paradox then attempted to tie it all together, where the franchise goes from here, and much more!

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