Cloverfield

"An old-fashioned monster movie dressed up in trendy new threads, "Cloverfield" plays like "The Blair Witch Project" meets "Godzilla," as it charts via camcorder the desperate efforts of some twentysomething Soho scenesters to steer clear of a gigantic beast laying waste to Manhattan. Despite its indie-flavored shooting style, first-rate visual effects, reasonable intensity factor, nihilistic attitude and post-9/11 anxiety overlay, this punchy sci-fier is, in the end, not much different from all the marauding creature features that have come before it..."

"Think "Godzilla Unplugged" -- with chillingly effective results..."

"It does everything a good monster movie should. It’ll thrill, it’ll shock, and it’ll quite likely scare the bejeezus out of you. Depending on your tolerance of handycams, it may very well make you sick..."

"Throughout, Cloverfield pulls off the trick of generating tension from what it doesn't reveal or what might be lurking just out of frame. That's an old trick, of course, and there's not really a lot new about Cloverfield, apart from its ground-level perspective. But there's no denying its inventiveness or intensity, and both are sure to make this New York demo tape a monster hit..."

"Seeing what unfolds through a personal video racks up the tension perfectly, up close and intimate, and with some consistently strong performances by a cast of relative unknowns. Despite that intimacy, the film failed to build any real attachment to the characters, but purely from a visual perspective, and for the ride, Cloverfield definitely kept me entertained, and even felt quite fresh...."

"Believe the hype - Cloverfield is an impressive twist on the blockbuster disaster movie..."

"Godzilla meets YouTube in this corking sci-fi thriller from Lost producer JJ Abrams and director Matt Reeves. Cloverfield's brilliantly simple gimmick is to take a traditional monster movie scenario and shoot the carnage from ground up, using a single camcorder carried by one of the protagonists. The action is relentless: we get five minutes of introductions at a going-away party for chiselled yuppie Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David), then something goes boom in Manhattan and it's wall-to-wall peril..."