Originally called The Cellar, american director Dan Trachtenberg's 10 Cloverfeild Lane seems to take heavy inspiration from the critically panned 2012 movie The Divide. The movie has been described as a "Blood Relative" by producer J.J. Abrams to the 2008 original Cloverfield, which was directed by Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes).
The movies protagonist, portrayed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (2011's The Thing), wakes up after a car accident to find herself in a underground cellar owned by a survivalist portrayed by the legendary John Goodman, whom along with John Gallagher jr. informs her that the surface is uninhabitable due to the fallout of chemical weapon attacks. As the claustrophobia and paranoia increase over time, and the harmony between the three survivors begins to fracture and fray, our protagonist is forced to escape her confinement and face whatever has become of the real world.
Even the movie poster reminds us of the 2008 original with its uniquely colored "storm clouds"!
According to "sources" on the popular platform Reddit, the above synopsis matches a 2013 draft of the script for the movie, and also pains to remind us that the script had absolutely no mention of monsters, ascertaining that although the movies new title ties it with the 2008 monster movie, that is where any connection ends. Or is it?
Monsters presents a new take on a post apocalyptic future setting!
Thanks to Gareth Edwards Monsters and Godzilla, and Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim monsters movies, or more correctly; Kaiju movies are popular once again thanks to advances in visual special effects technologies. As with the current plethora of comic book movies and cinematic universes, any and every studio in Hollywood is looking to capitalise their profits by cashing in on these movie trends, and Paramount Pictures is no exception.
The studio has already extended its profile with movie franchises such as Star Trek, Transformers, Terminator and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but one genre in which the studio has no effect is that of the Monster, or Kaiju movie. 10 Cloverfield Lane is admittedly far from a competitor to the likes of Godzilla or Pacific Rim, but it is at the very least a step in the right direction.
Movies like The Mist, Monsters and possibly 10 Cloverfield Lane show us a new world where we no longer matter!
J.J. Abrams attachment to the project and its name change strongly suggests that revisions to the 2013 script have been made to incorporate it into the universe of the original movie, likely replacing the middle-eastern terrorist element mentioned on Reddit with the creature from the first movie or something similar. Its also likely that additional footage was shot showing the surface to be awash with towering creatures much like in the all too often forgotten, yet powerful monster movie, The Mist.
Of course I could be wrong. But I doubt Abrams as producer, while working on one of the biggest movies in his career with The Force Awakens, is going to help revive a low budget movie with such a talented cast, while changing the name to match the 2008 original and not feature the monster element from the original movie.
