Apparently this film had an extensive advertising campaign, but I really heard nothing about it until last week, so I went in knowing very little. However my love of Producers JJ Abrams televsion show 'Lost' gave me high expectations.

The first peice excitement before the movie even started was the trailer that's attached to the film, it was for JJ Abrams next film, his prequel to the legendary Star Trek franchise. As trailers aimed at nerdy fan boys go, it was pretty good.

Cloverfield is a clever movie, it manages to pull off the feel of a big budget movie without spending the really big dollars. The film plays as the tape removed from a handi-cam, complete with accidental overdubs, static, and the classic shaky hand filming. We follow a group of friends in New York at a party, then something unexpected happens, there is a lound band, a shudder, a tremor, people run outside and then all chaos breaks loose.

We follow our characters as they film themselves through a rollercoaster ride of fear, terror and overpowering emotion over the next hour or so, all fimed on homemade shaky handicam.

The film is scary, I screamed outloud on more than on occasion, or as my cinema going companions would describe it, a girly scream at that. I'll admit it, I jumped out of my seat.

From a filmmaking perspective, it's very clever, all the budget was spent on the effects, and the home made quality gives the story a believe-ability that suspends a moderns disbelief a lot longer than normal. In a post 9-11 world it is not possible to watch this film of terror and destruction in New York without thinking about the events of 2001 - and there are scenes in this film that are clearly based on that event.

The actors, a cast of unfamiliar faces are great, and their natural performances will not get the attention they deserve, becasue they make it look so real.

All that hand held camera made some of my friends feel really ill by the end of the screening, but it's not as bad as 'The Blair Witch Project'. I was glad for my three years of living on the high seas, I wasn't effected by all the swaying - just all the scary bits.

Not all the budget went on the effects....the film was shot on top-of-the-line HD cameras by 3 operators and with a large crew.
Hence the $25 million budget. I know, small by Hollywood standards, but a decent amount nonetheless.