Review of Cloverfield (2008) by Late R — 16 Aug 2017

At the time, this was a unique and very interesting take on the monster genre. By giving only brief or partial glimpses of the 'Cloverfield' monster for the majority of the film and combining it with the found-footage gimmick (this was before it had been overused to oblivion), Matt Reeves manages to create a real sense of dread whilst simultaneously allowing you to vicariously live through the terrifying situation of not really knowing what's going on.

The characters themselves are well written and seem like genuine people which really helps to sell the fear they're experiencing as well as making it easy to put yourself in their shoes.