10 Cloverfield Lane: Everything You Need To Know
/DIRECTOR: DAN TRACHTENBERG | STARRING: JOHN GOODMAN, MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD, JOHN GALLAGHER JR
RUNTIME: 103 MINUTES | RATING: PG-13 | SCORE: 4/5
So, 10 Cloverfield Lane. It’s a great film that sets up so much but also, in that JJ fashion, leaves so much open to interpretation that you can rewatch this movie in so many ways. Today, we’re going to break down the Easter Eggs, connections, and theories surrounding the recently released installment of this new franchise.
SUMMARY:
After almost a decade from the first, we get a film that feels like Room meets Misery and then at the end becomes War of the Worlds.
One of the best parts of these films, however, is that they can be enjoyed as stand-alone films, but they also have some crazy viral marketing behind it. You know when you watch a film and you don’t want it to be too convoluted but you wonder if the director has any backstory for the stuff you’re seeing on screen? Well, these movies got your back! Some people are still unaware of it, but they create this major lead up to the movies that you can follow online and even physically go to locations to find things.
You can check out these websites to join in on the fun:
- http://cloverfieldclues.blogspot.com/
- http://cloverfield.wikia.com/wiki/Cloverfield_Wiki
- https://www.reddit.com/r/10cloverfieldlane/
--but here I want to give a quick summary on the ARG (Alternate Reality Game) which plays a big part in understanding these movies.
CLOVERFIELD CLUES:
Let's start with the first: a movie that divided audiences (mainly due to its found footage style) but one that many saw as the American version of Godzilla and just a simple monster movie.
See, we start off by following the character of Rob – who, just like all of the other characters, were given social media accounts that you could follow up on until the day of the attacks – and as shown in the movie, we see that he’s moving to Japan to work for a company named Slusho - a beverage that you can’t drink just 6 of. But this beverage is special in that its main ingredient is seabed nectar which can only be found…in the sea. This then brings in the big boss Tagruato - a Japanese mining company that dates way back to 1945 - because they go all out with their backstory.
This company has subsidiaries such as; Slusho, Yoshida Medical Research (which deals in deep-sea genetics), ParafFun! Wax Distributors (for your everyday wax uses) and Bold Futura (deals in advancing technology such as satellites and plays a big part in the sequel).
On April 27, 2008 (as seen at the end of Cloverfield) a portion of a Bold Futura satellite (the ChimpanzIII) falls into the ocean. This gives the company leeway with their Hatsui satellite to “collect data and secure sample”. To some, this is a way for them to snoop with the better satellite they have while others think it’s them acting in good will to clean up.
But that’s not what T.I.D.O. Wave thinks.
Yup, even in this fictional world they have environmental activists trying to stop fictional drilling companies. There’s even a side story consisting of video messages between a missing activist named Teddy Hannsen and his girlfriend Jamie who in a video eats a bit of seabed nectar that causes her to go crazy. Interestingly enough, we find out that Clovie (the monster) and its clovettes also had strong traces of it. Also, cool to note that Jamie appears in Cloverfield passed out in this scene.
The big thing with T.I.D.O., however, is that they find out that the Chuai Station (one of 14 Tagruato drilling stations) is built in a part of the Atlantic that has no oil. However, they knew something else was down there from an employee who claimed to “make a major discovery”….and then about a week later was found killed along with his family with all of his computers wiped. Things get crazy when news reports came out showing a disaster that caused the destruction of the station. Knowing it has nothing to do with oil, we can assume that the black figure in the water is Clovie who then swims to Manhattan and causes chaos giving us the events from the first film.
So, yeah. There’s a lot more to Cloverfield than most people think. But how was 10 Cloverfield Lane going to handle their ARG?
10 CLOVERFIELD LANE CLUES:
It started off by people emailing Tagruato and realizing that the website had been updated with a new Employee of the Month page which happened to include this handsome fellow right here. And thus, we knew the journey had begun.
The next clue was on his shirt. When you type in radioman70.com it redirects you to funandprettythings.com which Howard (Goodman) uses to try and communicate with his daughter before the events of 10CL. Since most of us have seen the movie, it’s really cool to revisit this page and notice the French symbolism such as the Eiffel Tower which represents the place they wanted to visit. Some have also connected it as a callback to the old fan-made sequel poster or even to the Statue of Liberty which came from France.
We then noticed an anagram with the missing letters in one picture that would spell out Megan. We know that mint ice cream in a bowl was her favorite, that she liked magazines, and that her favorite film was Pretty In Pink. When you click on that still it prompts you for a password which is a quote from the film, “Do you want to talk?”. This then brings you to a series of messages Howard writes to Megan warning her of the attacks that are coming. Some of the juiciest stuff we learn is that he’s near New Orleans while his wife and daughter have moved away from him to Chicago.
To some, the language Denise (his wife) uses in her post such as; “it’s a morbid fantasy”, “leave me alone”, and even “Deep down you have to know you’ll never see Megan again” leads them to believe Megan is actually dead and Howard just can’t come to terms with it. But, there’s also the restraining order which can’t be placed on a dead person.
The most recent message posted is from a guy initialed NR who could be Nikolai Roza, a man mentioned as an employee of the month for March on the Tagruato website. He also served in the navy before joining Bold Futura just like Howard did. His message, when decoded, leads to a picture of what looks like one of the alien ships we see at the end of the film in space.
Along with a survival simulator left for Megan, it was cool to see other interactions pop up. Coordinates to a ranch were discovered, where a Redditor found a Swamp Pop bottle next to a mound where he dug up; a cartridge case filled with survival gear, a USB drive with recordings from a satellite mission talking about a bright red flashing light as was mentioned in the film itself, and even includes the missing catfish puzzle pieces that Emmett couldn’t find.
Another discovery led to a locker in Chicago which included a French lunchbox with a burner phone including text messages and a voicemail from Howard trying to contact Megan. There’s even mention of a silverware set which led people to find a Craigslist listing that included a notebook with Megan’s name in the picture.
This was followed up by a whole conversation between username V27 and Denise, which not only led her to post in funandprettythings.com but some have even speculated that it led her back to the bunker and that she’s the neighbor. But, I’m not too sure about that one.
The ARG for 10CL does hint a lot at aliens and what Tagruato is up to, but it mostly revolves around the backstory of Howard which I still find to be important. What’s also great about it are the connections to real life events the ARG does to make it seem more realistic. There’s a reference to a train wreck on its way to Chicago which Howard uses to warn Megan of danger and a SEASAT Satellite which actually exists and Howard claims to have worked on, Cool to note that this satellite passes by where the fictional Chuai Drilling Station would’ve been.
So of course knowing the story behind both of the ARG’s, which still may be developing mind you, you see how it adds so much more to the story, but also helps us to start searching for those Easter eggs.
EASTER EGGS:
- Kelvin Gas Station (Super 8)
- In that same gas station we see a Slusho sign
- During the air ventilation scene Michelle places her hand on a Bold Futura check
- Bradley Cooper phones in his performance as Ben (Michelle’s husband) who makes the cameo as a favor to his Alias director JJ.
- Psycho inspired titl
- Intro callback (woman waking up in a cellar) to Dan Trachtenbergs Portal short film.
- There’s also a lot of foreshadowing such as:
- The bottle of alcohol in the beginning which is used in the end.
- The catfish puzzle which correlates with people being taken from their own will
- The lighting of what seems to be Megan’s potential room that is half colored in pink tells a lot about the characters state of mind.
- The rumbles and mentions of Martian attacks, Howard’s crazy theory of Space worms and even the Cannibal Airlines VHS allude to the floating Chicken Little looking aliens that Michelle easily defeats at the end.
THEORIES:
But now, let’s get into some theories.
We know that we’re seeing things only through Michelle’s POV (just like Cloverfield and its camera) so everything we understand and feel comes from her perspective.
On our first viewing, we feel Howard lost his daughter Megan (be it she was dead or not—after the attacks she’s gone either way) and he chose to take another girl named Brittney to take Megan’s place. After her, we see him stalk Michelle at the gas station, then wrecks her car and takes her back to the bunker where a third party comes in and ruins how “things were always meant to be”. It’s the reason he dresses her up like Megan, treats her like a child, and isn’t even able to refer to her as being a woman.
And while that may be the most obvious walkthrough, with themes of abuse being very evident, there is a theory that looks at Howard as being like the Cloverfield monster (not making a weight joke). See, Clovie did attack a city, but that’s because they were drilling over him, they disturbed this infant monster and, of course, he raged out. Looking back at the ARG, and even within the film itself, Howard’s a guy who’s seen things yet no one believes him. Granted, doomsday preppers are usually creepy, but when they work for a satellite company that gives him evidence to freak out and he ends up being right, it doesn’t make him completely wrong.
We know his family was real and that they left him alone, that he spent time preparing for a disaster, and perhaps he was rushing back when he accidentally hit Michelle and out of guilt saved her life by bringing her back to the bunker. Because let’s be honest – Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a 10/10 and looks nothing like Megan.
Mix with that the PTSD that he has and sure, he’s not a guy you’d want to go bowling with, but that doesn’t make him completely evil. Especially when you remember who influences some of what you think
This leads to the theory that Emmett is really the bad guy.
Now again, I say theories because the movie itself sets up so many different possibilities and we know that JJ nor anybody else is going to confirm anything. But, I wouldn’t be mentioning this theory if it didn’t have some crazy aspects supporting it.
For one, we know he helped create the bunker and has known Howard for years thus meaning that he knew Megan before she “left” for Chicago. One can assume then that this simple man who doesn’t know the difference between North or South Korea may have had a thing going on with Megan. This then explains their tension, Howard’s no touching rule, and adds more to the “I’m always watching you” scene. It continues by explaining that he may have been the one who held Megan captive without Howard’s knowledge but that Howard knew something was suspicious with him he just couldn’t pinpoint it.
One day, Emmett sees a flashing light that makes him go, “Dang, Howard was right!” and forces himself into the bunker which causes him to hurt his arm while doing so. As indicated by his fresh wounds and the fact he was at work earlier that day, we know it’s a recent injury. Emmett may also have something to do with the inaccessible air filter and thinks fast when Michelle finds the earring making a false claim that this picture of Megan is a made up chick named Brittney to turn her against Howard. It would explain why Howard wouldn’t have pictures of the real Megan who he loves so much but also goes along with the track playing during this scene which is titled “Message from Megan”.
Even in the original script titled The Cellar where Emmett was named Nate, he was a bit more serious and had this bad guy persona be much more evident with Howard’s character having an ending that made you sympathize with him a bit more.
Some may question, “Well, why was he nice in there?” Cause there’s freaking aliens outside!
Of course, the movie intentionally opens itself up for interpretation building on that “mystery box” element, but the last thing we have to cover is how much of a sequel - er, blood relative - this is to the first.
And so far, almost as much of a chance of Howard surviving that explosion.
CONNECTIONS TO THE CLOVERVERSE:
See, if you’re like me and follow Bad Robot you know that they initially acquired a spec script originally titled The Cellar which has almost everything minus the aliens. They then hired Damien Chazelle to do some rewrites and was even going to direct, until he left to make Whiplash. Which was a good choice. Thus, JJ liked Trachtenberg’s use of lens flares, hired him to direct, and filmed under the title Valencia which referenced a deleted scene where John Goodman uses the word.
But the repeated use of the word “blood relative” and not just straight-out saying it’s an anthology is what has me confused. Because while people are still trying to piece them together, know that one is confirmed to take place in 2008 and the other in 2016 with no cross references to what would be a major attack. If you’re still grasping at straws, the director even said this:
"That [Cloverfield] timeline did not happen for these characters." -Dan Trachtenberg
So it’s “confirmed” as an anthology series like VHS or American Horror Story with the connections being Twilight Zone-ish atmospheres, similar themes and monster attacks. That should be cool, right?
Well, the issue is it kind of gets rid of all of the lore from the first, in where this second one keeps the same companies but now the backstory has changed. Are we to expect the third to get rid of everything again and makeup something entirely new? It would then build a continuity worse than those found in comic books and kind of tell the people following the ARGs to not get too attached to the hard work the marketing department is putting in.
Also, saying that it's certain themes that define a Cloverfield movie is kind of unstable. Wouldn’t Super 8 fall into that category then? Cabin in the Woods took an approach on tropes and flipped them just like both Cloverfields have been doing. Will Bad Robot be restricted with their monster movies just because they have to connect with Cloverfield?
As confusing as it seems (at the moment), there’s one thing that it shouldn’t be considered – a cash grab. Need for Speed, and Jem and the Holograms are cash grabs. Those are terrible movies that rode off of a name to make money knowing the films were dookie themselves. Here, you do get a great film. It’s like opening up a copy of The Godfather and seeing Goodfellas inside instead. You’re upset you didn’t get what you wanted, but you still got a great movie. However, they did pull something in the vain of seeing a trailer for the return of Lost but retitling it Lost Highway: A show where a group of people are stranded in the desert but makes no callbacks to the island, the original crew, or the smoke monster. However, 4 8 15 16 23 42 end up being some sort of coordinates. Wow.
All of this talk just leads me to believe that they will eventually combine the movies together – through alternate timelines. I mean, these are the same guys who put out Lost and Fringe. They’re also the same group who’re pushing forward Half-Life and Portal feature which include a company that makes cross references between both gaming titles. We know that there are talks on expanding the Cloververse with a third idea already brewing. There’s even an untitled project with Goddard and Reeves that is rumored to be in the works for Bad Robot. But the one that’s speculated to be the next Clover installment is God Particle.
It deals with space, satellites, astronauts finding something that changes everything after messing with a particle accelerator and even the earth disappearing. So maybe alternate realities can bring all this together.
However, by the end, I still believe we’ve gotten two solid films that have set us on an entertaining journey and I can’t wait to see more. While they’ve left us speculating on the connections, theorizing on the characters’ motives, I do feel the big question this latest installment poses comes from the tagline:
Monsters come in many forms.
Sure, you had the alien monsters outside but there were also creepier monsters inside the bunker. So the question it leaves you with is, “Who would you rather be stuck with?”
