10 Cloverfield Lane

Fans of producer J.J. Abrams's 2008 Cloverfield, a found footage hit about monsters invading Manhattan, have been eagerly awaiting a sequel. This isn't it. While 10 Cloverfield Lane is in the same sci-fi genre, Abrams purposely did not title it Cloverfield 2 (and he has ditched the found footage gimmick), instead calling this psychological thriller a “spiritual successor.” Fleeing from a romantic break-up in New Orleans, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is knocked unconscious in a horrific car crash on a winding country road somewhere in rural Louisiana. When she awakens, she finds herself shackled to a wall in an underground bunker belonging to an intimidating, conspiracy-theory-obsessed survivalist named Howard (John Goodman), who claims that he pulled her from the wreckage and saved her life. Paranoid Howard tells her that the Russians—or maybe the Martians—dropped the proverbial bomb, making the Earth's surface radioactive, contaminated, and uninhabitable for at least a year. Scared, confused, and skeptical, Michelle is actually not the only captive. Creepy, enigmatic Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) is a local lad who sought refuge in the subterranean shelter but now seems to want to escape as much as Michelle does. A character-driven, tension-filled tale of terror, directed by Abrams's protégé Dan Trachtenberg, the palpable dread here is amplified by Jeff Cutter's cinematography and composer Bear McCreary's foreboding score. Recommended. [Note: Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Dan Trachtenberg and producer J.J. Abrams, the production featurettes “Cloverfield Too” (9 min.), “Fine Tuned” (7 min.), “Kelvin Optical” (6 min.), “Bunker Mentality” (4 min.), “Spin-off” (4 min.), “End of Story” (3 min.), and “Duck and Cover” (2 min.), trailers, and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a nerve-wracking psychological thriller.] (S. Granger)