# Cloverfield (JJ Abram's secret monster movie)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-jj-abrams-secret-monster-movie/410457>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 4, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-jj-abrams-secret-monster-movie/410457 "2007-07-04T03:20:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Soapbox\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-jj-abrams-secret-monster-movie/410457/1 "2007-07-04T03:20:40Z")

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I’m not sure how many people saw the trailer for this attached to Transformers, but the preview didn’t even have a name, it just credited JJ Abrams and gave a release date.

At first I thought “holy shit is someone secretly making a new Godzilla movie?” but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

What little info I could find online indicates that its an original monster movie, and will be shot entirely with handheld cameras, as the film will be from the vantage point of individuals recording the chaos unfolding around them.

Godzilla or not, I’m intrigued. And it’s friggin’ JJ Abrams.

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-jj-abrams-secret-monster-movie/410457/2 "2007-07-04T11:21:58Z")

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It could be the Stephen King story _The Mist_. I heard JJ Abrams is directing it.

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**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-jj-abrams-secret-monster-movie/410457/3 "2007-07-05T20:37:23Z")

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I am so excited to see this movie, whatever the hell it is. Here’s a very badly taped version of the trailer: [http://youtube.com/watch?v=pnlgQzelsxE](http://youtube.com/watch?v=pnlgQzelsxE)

And it’s supposedly not Godzilla. The title “Cloverfield” is just a working title and the actual title might be “1-18-08” instead of that being a release date. Here’s the official website: [http://www.1-18-08.com/](http://www.1-18-08.com/)

Funny how it sounds EXACTLY like the Smoke Monster on LOST. So help me, if this turns out to be some meta-clue/tie-in/very expensive advertisement for Lost, I think I might have to hurt someone. :mad:

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**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-jj-abrams-secret-monster-movie/410457/4 "2007-07-05T20:47:07Z")

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[QUOTE=ivylass]  
It could be the Stephen King story _The Mist_. I heard JJ Abrams is directing it.  
[/QUOTE]

Darabont’s doing The Mist. I have high hopes. 😃

The noises in the trailer sounded like the noises in War of the Worlds. Looks intriguing!

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**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-jj-abrams-secret-monster-movie/410457/5 "2007-07-05T20:59:17Z")

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AMC played _Das Boot_ this last weekend. In the special “interesting trivia shown at the bottom” version, they mentioned that the cramped confines of the set (interior Uboat shots) meant that those shots had to be done with little hand held cameras.

There was not much jittery-ness, or focus problems, that I recall. It can be done.

OT: I just tried to go confirm this on [imdb.com](http://imdb.com), but their http is highjacked, I think. I keep getting rerouted to [foxmovies.com](http://foxmovies.com). Tsk tsk tsk. You troublesome little internet gnomes…

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**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-jj-abrams-secret-monster-movie/410457/6 "2007-07-05T21:02:42Z")

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Sorry. I was responding to this post, in the other thread on this subject:

> [@dysonsphere](#):
>
> It looked pretty interesting to me. I could actually dig the “shaky camcorder” idea, but it has to be pulled off just right. Otherwise I’ll just feel sick throughout the entire thing, and that’s no fun at all.

> **[The Trailer without a Title that ran before the Transformers Movie](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=427573)**
>
> There have been a few posts already in the Transformers thread about the weird trailer that ran before the movie- the trailer that didn’t give a title for the film it was advertising. I don’t have much info on it (I did basically the same research...
