Cloverfield is a 2008 American found footage monster horror film.
Synopsis[]
A group of friends venture deep into the streets of New York on a rescue mission during a rampaging monster attack.
Plot[]
The film is presented as footage from a personal camcorder recovered by the United States Department of Defense in the area "formerly known as Central Park", bearing a disclaimer stating multiple sightings of a case designated "Cloverfield". The tape originally contained footage from the last day Rob and Beth had spent together, which later got overwritten in its majority by the events filmed during the night of Friday, May 22, 2009, the resulting tape alternating between the two.
The first segment is filmed by Rob on the morning of Monday, April 27. Rob and Beth wake up in an apartment after a night together and they make plans to go to Coney Island that day. The footage cuts to the evening of Friday, May 22, when Jason, Rob's brother, and his girlfriend, Lily, prepare a farewell party for Rob, who will be moving to Japan. Their friend Hud films testimonials during the party.
After Beth has an argument with Rob and leaves, a supposed earthquake strikes, causing a brief city-wide power outage; the local news reports a capsized oil tanker near Liberty Island. When the party-goers leave the building, the severed head of the Statue of Liberty is hurled into the street in front of them. Hud records what appears to be an enormous creature several blocks away collapsing the Woolworth Building. Later, during the city's evacuation, the creature's gigantic tail destroys the Brooklyn Bridge, killing Jason and several other people. News reports show the Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division attacking the monster. Smaller "parasite" creatures fall off its body and attack nearby pedestrians and soldiers.[6]
Rob listens to a phone message from Beth, stating that she is trapped in her apartment at the Time Warner Center and unable to move. Going against the crowd, Rob, Hud, Lily, and another party-goer, Marlena, venture into Midtown Manhattan to rescue Beth. By 3:17 am, they get caught in a battle between the creature and the National Guard and run into the Spring Street station, soon attacked by several of the parasitic creatures during the scuffle; Marlena is bitten by one. Exiting the subway via the 59th Street station, the four come to a command center and field hospital. Marlena reacts to the bite, causing her to bleed from her eyes. She is dragged into a tent, where she apparently explodes. Rob, intending to save Beth, persuades one of the military leaders to let him go. The man then tells Rob when the last evacuation helicopter will depart before the military executes its "Hammer Down Protocol," which will destroy Manhattan in an attempt to kill the monster.
The group rescues Beth, impaled on exposed rebar, and the four make their way to the evacuation site at Grand Central Terminal, where they encounter the creature once more. Lily is rushed into a departing Marine Corps helicopter and escapes. Moments later, Rob, Beth, and Hud are taken away in a second helicopter and witness a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bomb the creature. The bombing causes the creature to fall, but then it lunges at the protagonists' helicopter, causing it to crash into Central Park.
The film skips to the early morning of Saturday, May 23, less than an hour later. A voice on the crashed helicopter's radio warns that the Hammer Down protocol will begin in fifteen minutes. The three friends regain consciousness and flee; Hud retrieves it, where the creature suddenly appears and kills him.
Rob and Beth grab the camera and take shelter under Greyshot Arch in Central Park. As sirens blare and the bombing starts, Rob and Beth take turns leaving their last testimony of the day's events. The bridge crumbles and the camera gets knocked out of Rob's hand and buried beneath some rubble.[7] Rob and Beth each proclaim their love for each other just before another bomb goes off, with both screaming while the monster roars.
The footage concludes with Rob and Beth's Coney Island date on April 27. Unnoticed by the characters, an indiscernible object falls from the sky into the ocean. Rob points the camera toward Beth and himself, and zooms in on the latter, who says "I had a good day." At that point, the tape freezes and cuts out.
After the credits, indistinct radio chatter can be heard. It can be perceived as "Help us", but when played in reverse, it says "It's still alive".