Poster © Paramount Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Horror & Sci-Fi
RatedPG-13
Runtime1 hr 25 mins
ReleasedJanuary 18, 2008
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorMatt Reeves
StarringLizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller
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Cloverfield (2008)
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| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Cloverfield's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Horror & Sci-Fi |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 01/18/2008 |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Budget | $25–30M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Cloverfield's Interests | |
| General | Going-away parties, camcorders, Manhattan rooftops, blackouts, old tapes you forgot to erase. |
| Music | No score at all. Michael Giacchino's monster overture only plays over the end credits. |
| Movies | 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016). Same name family, totally different trip. |
| Television | Lost. J.J. Abrams again, and again nobody explains anything. |
| Heroes | Hud. Never puts the camera down. Ever. |
| Cloverfield's Crew | |
| Director | Matt Reeves |
| Writers | Drew Goddard |
| Producers | Bryan Burk, J. J. Abrams |
| Cinematography | Michael Bonvillain |
| Edited By | Kevin Stitt |
| Production | Bad Robot |
| Distributed By | Paramount Pictures |
Hud is the worst camera operator in New York, and the entire movie depends on him. He films the party, the panic and the monster, but mostly he films his own sneakers and Marlena’s patience running out. Cloverfield is found-footage, which means you spend the first stretch at a goodbye party for a guy you don’t care about, then the rest watching that guy head back into a city falling apart to find his ex. The characters are cardboard with good haircuts. But the attack scenes are legit scary, the Statue of Liberty’s head bouncing down the street is an image you don’t forget, and at 85 minutes it never wears out its welcome. Opening weekend crowds gave it a C CinemaScore, and my stomach agreed. A 6.2 because the monster is great and the people are not. $49 says you get a little seasick by the subway tunnel scene and blame the snacks.
What works: The attack scenes feel scary and real, and the short runtime keeps the found-footage gimmick from wearing out.
What doesn’t: The characters are bland, the party opening drags, and the shaky camera will make some people genuinely queasy.
Who it’s for: Monster movie fans who want to feel stuck down on the street instead of watching from a helicopter.
Spoilers
Rob reaches Beth, but the military bombs the city, and the last footage shows the two of them under a bridge in Central Park as it hits. Then the tape cuts back to their happy day at Coney Island, where something drops into the ocean in the background.
Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) is moving to Japan for a new job, so his brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and Jason's girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas) throw him a surprise goodbye party in Manhattan. Rob's best friend Hud (T.J. Miller) gets stuck filming farewell messages on a camcorder, which mostly means pointing it at Marlena (Lizzy Caplan). Things are already awkward because of Rob's history with Beth (Odette Yustman). Then the building shakes, the power cuts out, and something huge starts tearing through the city. Hud keeps filming. Matt Reeves directs. Eighty-five minutes, one very shaky camera.
Anyone with a steady hand and a spare battery. Hud could use both.
| Michael Stahl-David | Rob Hawkins |
| Odette Yustman | Beth McIntyre |
| T.J. Miller | Hud Platt |
| Jessica Lucas | Lily Ford |
| Lizzy Caplan | Marlena Diamond |
| Mike Vogel | Jason Hawkins |
| Ben Feldman | Travis Marello |
| Margot Farley | Jenn |
| Theo Rossi | Antonio |
| Kelvin Yu | Clark |
| Liza Lapira | Heather |
| Lili Mirojnick | Lei |
| Brian Klugman | Charlie |
| Jamie Harlan | Jamie Lascano |
| Billy Brown | Sergeant Pryce |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $172.4M; Domestic box office $80M; Opening weekend $40.1M; Profit / loss (est.) +$44.9M; Rotten Tomatoes 78%; CinemaScore C; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 78% (213 reviews); Metacritic 64 / 100; CinemaScore C; IMDb users 7.0 / 10 (448,807 votes); movie.guru score 5.6.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.