Parents' Guide to

Cloverfield

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Tense monster movie is loud, hectic -- and scary.

Movie PG-13 2008 84 minutes
Cloverfield Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 20 parent reviews

krod14
krod14 Parent of 12-year-old
October 30, 2022
age 14+

Crazy, violent, apocalyptic style movie can frighten some

Cloverfield is a movie where a monster attacks New York City and a group of teens are trying to find a way out. The whole movie is not the perspective of a camera but very violent. People are shown getting smashed by giant aliens, crushed by rubble, etc. There is a particularly gruesome scene where a women is seen exploding behind a curtain. (You see her struggling and blood splatters in the curtain) Another scene where a man is eaten by the monster and spit out. You can see his legs dangling from the monster’s mouth as the man falls to the ground. At a hospital, a dead man can be seen on a stretcher with his chest ripped open for a split second. It can be a hard film to watch and may be disturbing to others. Language includes constant s words as well. Landmarks like the Statue of Liberty are seen being destroyed by the monster. All in all, a very violent gory movie.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
robbie1
robbie1 Adult
February 7, 2020
age 12+

This title has:

Great messages
See all 20 parent reviews

What's the Story?

CLOVERFIELD begins quietly: Rob (Michael Stahl-David) wanders through an apartment overlooking Central Park, his video camera alighting on his pretty lover, Beth (Odette Yustman). They flirt and talk about visiting Coney Island, though tensions emerge when that same camera documents Rob's going-away party -- newly promoted at work, he's on his way to Japan. But such trivial concerns are quickly dispelled when a giant, reptilian monster attacks New York in an assault that initially recalls 9/11, with flaming buildings, clouds of dust, and screaming victims. Despite the risk, Rob, Lily (Jessica Lucas), Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), and Hud (T.J. Miller) make their way from downtown to rescue Beth, who's trapped in her midtown apartment. As they skitter along sidewalks and trudge through dark subway tunnels, they dodge the big monster, smaller bat-like creatures, and frightening military assaults.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (20):
Kids say (89):

Combining low-budget grit with spectacular effects, the film uses its tightly focused, handheld documentary premise (recalling The Blair Witch Project) to make the monster plot extra scary. The lack of context or explanation for the attack echoes feelings of panic on 9/11, when no one could anticipate what would happen next. While the romantic quest to rescue Beth provides a recognizable plot and some events will look familiar (looting, collapsing high-rises and bridges, people using cell phones to document disaster), unlike in many similar films, here you can never be sure what's around the next corner.

But for all its mystery, the monster is mostly an excuse for the film's more ambitious experiment: creating characters out of moment-by-moment action, rather than compelling emotion. As they're thrown almost immediately into chaos, none of them are particularly well-drawn or even sympathetic. Instead, they're emotional sketches of fear and uncertainty rather than individuals with backgrounds and futures. As you can see by the several other anonymous figures who pull out their cell phones to capture the turmoil, the movie's characters are of a generation completely at ease with the concept that they should document everything around them, as well as their own "testimonies." Defined by its time and place (post-9/11 America), the film is clever, harrowing, and a wild ride.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether the movie's images remind them of 9/11. Do you think that was intentional? How has that event -- so much of which was captured in the media and shown on television -- affected subsequent horror/action movies?

  • Why is New York such an attractive target city in these movies?

  • Does the handheld camerawork make the action scarier? Why or why not? What other movies/media have used this approach?

  • Is the movie accurate in its depiction of how public events are documented (immediately filmed, commented on, blogged about, etc.) in today's world?

Movie Details

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