Little Links This Psychological Thriller to ‘Cloverfield’

Bottle movies are a classic approach to filmmaking. By shooting the movie almost entirely in a single interior location, filmmakers focus on the characters; who they are, their motivations and their interactions. Trapping people in a confined space is a great way to ratchet up psychological tension on screen. With no scenery or action to distract from the situation or external information to explain anything, it becomes increasingly difficult to know what’s real, situations can spiral out of control quickly, and people often crack under the strain.

Like most bottle movies, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a character drama. It’s quite effective at showing what happens to people when they’re put in untenable situations. It takes place almost entirely in an underground doomsday bunker. There are only three characters, with conflicting goals and motivations. By the end, it’s impossible to know whose story is true, or who is crazy.

The interactions between the three leads are fascinating. John Goodman (Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski) is a stand-out. He inhabits the mysterious, conflicted Howard. He works hard to appear gentle, a benevolent savior with a slight lilt to his voice. His face softens when he talks about his daugher, seen only in photos. But Goodman’s massive presence and mercurial acting subtly suggest that it might be an act to cover Howard’s seething anger and possible insanity. Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scott Pilgrim vs the World) is initially terrified when she wakes up in a bunker, but she quickly reveals a steely determination, a resourcefulness and a willingness to do whatever it takes to survive. She learns to hide her horror at Howard’s behavior and dissemble to his face, while working to make Emmet her co-conspirator. Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.c, Jonah Hex) is an earnest, aw-shucks, blue-collar guy, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. There’s no guile or mystery to Emmett; he serves as a foil to Howard and an ally to Michelle. Their constantly shifting perception of what is real and what is fiction makes their relationship with Howard tense and fraught with menace.

That question — what is real, can anything be believed — is key to the unfolding psychodrama. It’s teased out slowly, with twists and turns. As a result, 10 Cloverfield Lane is much more of a tense psychological thriller than a sci-fi action movie. It relies heavily on the actors to convey the visceral danger and terror of their situation. In particular, Goodman’s superb combination of forced bonhomie and actual bonhomie keeps you guessing. This reliance on the actors allows first-time director Dan Trachtenberg to use horror-movie tricks like jump-scares sparingly and effectively. Unfortunately, Trachtenberg doesn’t always trust the audience to follow the story without help. He uses Bear McCreary’s (The Walking Dead) heavy, ominous score to scream “get ready for something scary” more often than necessary. A light, minimalist score — or virtually no music at all — would have been much more effective.

Ads and trailers for 10 Cloverfield Lane prominently show “from producer J.J. Abrams” along with his Bad Robot production company logo, raising the question: is this a sequel to Abrams’ 2008 film Cloverfield? Beyond the producer, intentional name-recognition, and a handful of other elements, the answer is “not really.” Abrams explains that 10 Cloverfield Lane is a “blood-relative” of Cloverfield, inhabiting a similar universe rather than being a sequel or spin-off. It’s filmed conventionally, without the found-footage conceit of Cloverfield. Discussing any further parallels would require spoilers.

In some ways, it feels like two movies grafted together; one a minimalistic psychological thriller, the other a J.J. Abrams movie. Abrams’ name guarantees a wider audience than 10 Cloverfield Lane would otherwise have had, ensuring that more people will see a fascinating bottle movie with quality acting. Time will tell whether they appreciate that or leave wondering why “Cloverfield” is in the title at all. Grade: B-