The Truth Behind "10 Cloverfield Lane"

On March 11th, 2016 the truth behind 10 Cloverfield Lane will finally be revealed. There is a history behind this film that is very unusual in comparison to other films production schedules. First off, what is 10 Cloverfield Lane?

© 2016 Paramount

The History of Cloverfield

 In 2008, producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves secretly began filming a found footage monster movie. They wanted to keep it as quiet as possible, going as far as to call it "01-18-08" before revealing the actual film title. In fact, the actors were even kept out of the loop on most of the script, and the actors they hired were mostly unfamiliar faces at the time. Through months of successful viral marketing, Cloverfield was released to find success. With a budget of simply $25 million, the Cloverfield creature had grown into a modern day American movie monster on par with the likes of Godzilla and King Kong. Most think that the Cloverfield monster was actually more terrifying then its compared companions. After the end of the film, questions were raised about whether the monster was still alive, or how many monsters may have actually appeared. This is where the 10 Cloverfield Lane comes into play.

© 2008 Paramount

Just to cover some ground on how this monster came to be in New York, the viral marketing reveals that the creature emerged from an oil rig in the ocean that had exploded. Now if you follow the viral clips down to every clip and scene, you will see in the background of a video some object (thought to be a satellite) falling from the sky into this oil rig, thus awakening the monster. This is the closest we get to "theorizing" a solution of where the monster came from. Either way, however it came to arrive, the monster ended up being even more terrifying in lack of understanding for its origin.

 © 2008 Paramount

The Follow Up, 10 Cloverfield Lane

Flash forward eight years, after on and off talk of some sort of sequel existing in the Cloverfield universe to get more understanding for this monster film, 10 Cloverfield Lane was revealed out of the clear blue. Originally a low budget script placed on a Hit List in 2012, the original story was to be called The Cellar. The film is based entirely around three characters coinciding in a bunker below ground. The actors portraying these characters are Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman and John Gallagher, Jr. whom all appear to have been thrown together amidst apocalyptic chaos. The main character, played by Winstead, comes to wake up in this bunker, confused as to why she is there. After being told by Goodman's character that the world above is an apocalyptic wasteland, she must decide if he is telling the truth or not.

© 2016 Paramount

First and foremost, it was mentioned during production they came up with the idea to place this in the same world as the original Cloverfield film. Commonly, this method is used to bring in more financial gain for a low budget film. Fortunately, the fact that this was decided during production and not after is a positive sign about the story intertwining in the Cloverfield world much more fluently. Viral marketing for the first film used a mock website for a company which somehow had involvement of the releasing of the monster. The website for a fictional company called Tagruato Corp. had been the creators of the oil rig that was destroyed in the initial release of the monster(s). The website has once again been updated after all these years to reveal information for 10 Cloverfield Lane. On this "Employee of the Month" page on the viral site, Goodman's character can be seen under the name Howard Stambler. It can easily be assumed his involvement in the company gives him a deeper understanding on whats happening with these monsters and why he has ended up in this bunker, terrified at the world outside.

© 2008 Paramount

Writers Theory

Now that we've covered most of the basis for what to expect in this film, that last topic I will talk about is how this film could 'theoretically' tie into the first film. Using the trailers from both films I will give you a break down of what happens. If you look below, you can view the trailer from the first Cloverfield film. After that, the trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane. In the first trailer, you will notice at the 50 second mark an explosion in New York city behind the main characters on the roof. Note the roar from the creature. This is the first sign of chaos caused from the monster. The second trailer below, at the 10 second mark, reveals a similar explosion behind a house with the same threatening roar. My theory, is that 10 Cloverfield Lane is some form of a prequel, with its final sequence highlighting the attack of the monster from the beginning of the first film. Alternatively, this could take place years after the first film when the creature(s) have taken over the world in general. With movies like this, its hard to truly know who, what, where, when and how.

Of course, this is just a theory. Producer J.J Abrams loves these sorts of little clues, connections and viral hints. Cloverfield films likely are the type of films to have 'easter eggs' hidden throughout. Either way, on March 11th, well know the truth behind 10 Cloverfield Lane. I encourage you all to watch the original film once again, one of the best slow revealing monster movies of the past decade. Once again, thank you for checking out our article and of course, don't forget to Crave Cinema!

© 2016 Paramount