SCAREDY CAT'S FILE

Is Cloverfield Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot

Rating: 6
Author: Scaredy Cat

Yes, 6 out of 10. It's a monster movie shot on a shaky camcorder, so you see what the cameraman sees.

THE SCARE SIGNAL

SCARE SCORE

6 /10

DREAD LEVEL

Medium

You'll feel it for a night, mostly when the next loud bang comes.

DOG

Dog: fine

no dog in this one.

Ruling: Watch it in daylight, since the monster shows up at a going-away party and the night only gets louder.

Cloverfield runs eighty-five minutes and is presented as a camcorder recording that the U.S. military found afterward. It starts at a going-away party where one friend is supposed to film goodbye testimonials. Then the power goes out in Manhattan, and the filming continues.

The premise, briefly

At a going-away party in Manhattan, a group of friends sees something enormous tearing through the city, and a camcorder records the whole night.

How much do you want to know?

The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.

CUT TO THE CHASE

How it ends

Jason, Marlena and Hud die along the way. Rob and Beth survive a helicopter crash and take shelter under an arch in Central Park, where they are last heard screaming as the bombing starts and the camera is buried. Lily's helicopter leaves before the crash, and the movie never shows where she ends up.

The scene you're dreading

Marlena's scene in the middle of the movie: after a bite in the subway tunnels, she is taken to a field hospital, starts bleeding from her eyes, and is separated from the others by a biohazard crew, and then her body swells and bursts.

The dog

There is no dog in Cloverfield.

It is a tense, loud creature story with jump scares and a sad ending, and knowing the order of events does not make it any easier on the people in it.

THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN

How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.

What actually happens

A going-away party with a very short guest list

The movie is presented as footage from a camcorder that the U.S. Department of Defense recovered from the area that used to be Central Park. It starts a month earlier, with Rob Hawkins waking up next to Beth McIntyre and spending the day with her in New York City and at Coney Island. On May 22, Rob's brother Jason and Jason's girlfriend Lily throw him a surprise farewell party in Lower Manhattan before he leaves for a job in Japan. Hud is told to film testimonials. Beth, upset at how Rob has treated her, arrives with another man and then argues with Rob. An earthquake knocks the power out, the news reports a capsized oil tanker, and an explosion lights up the sky. The head of the Statue of Liberty lands in the street, and Hud films an enormous creature knocking over the Woolworth Building.

Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.

A bridge that does not survive the creature

Rob, Jason, Lily and Hud shelter in a convenience store while the smoke and debris from the collapsed building rolls past. When they come out, they meet up with their friend Marlena Diamond, who is coated in dust and in shock from watching the creature eat people. The group tries to leave Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge, and Rob's phone rings, and it is Beth, stuck inside the Time Warner Center, in her apartment. The creature appears and destroys the bridge, and Jason dies. The others retreat to an electronics store, where the news shows the Army National Guard fighting the creature and smaller parasites dropping off its body to attack soldiers and civilians.

Marlena gets bitten and the army takes notice

Rob, Hud, Lily and Marlena head to Midtown to rescue Beth. They are caught in a fight between the creature and the military, and they take cover in a subway station and decide to walk through the tunnels. Parasites attack them there, and one bites Marlena. Soldiers find the four of them and bring them to a field hospital. This is the scene people dread, and it happens in the middle of the movie: Marlena starts bleeding from her eyes, a biohazard team takes her away from the others, and her body swells and bursts. Rob talks a commander into letting them go, and learns that the last evacuation helicopter leaves soon, after which the military will carry out the Hammerdown Protocol, a bombing campaign that could kill the creature and also destroy Manhattan.

A rescue with a hard deadline and a helicopter

Rob, Hud and Lily go to the Time Warner Center, where they find Beth stuck on exposed rebar in her damaged apartment. They get her free, and the four of them reach Grand Central Terminal and the evacuation helicopters. Lily goes up in the first helicopter. Rob, Beth and Hud take the second, and from the air they see a bomber hit the creature. It collapses, then gets up out of the smoke and hits the helicopter, which crashes in Central Park. The three survive the crash and climb out of the wreckage, but the creature closes in and Hud dies there. Rob and Beth grab the camera and hide beneath Greyshot Arch, where they each record a last testimony while air raid sirens sound.

The ending, explained

The bombing begins and the arch starts to crumble. The camera slips from Rob's grip and gets buried under rubble, Rob and Beth say they love each other, and they can be heard screaming as the footage cuts out. After that the tape shows the end of their day at Coney Island a month earlier, where something small falls from the sky into the ocean behind them, and they don't notice. Jason, Marlena and Hud die earlier in the movie. Lily is the one friend whose fate is not shown, because her helicopter leaves before the crash.

The post-credits ruling

There is no post-credits scene. A short line of audio plays after the credits, but there is nothing more to see.

✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: no dog in this one.

Questions people ask at 1am

Is Cloverfield scary?

Yes, Cloverfield is a 6 out of 10 with medium dread. It has jump scares, and the ending is sad.

How does Cloverfield end?

Hud dies in Central Park, and Rob and Beth shelter under an arch as the bombing starts. In Cloverfield the camera is buried in rubble and the footage cuts out on their screaming.

Does the dog die in Cloverfield?

No dog dies in Cloverfield, because there is no dog in the movie.

Is there a post-credits scene in Cloverfield?

No. Cloverfield has no post-credits scene, only a short line of audio after the credits.

What is the creature in Cloverfield?

Cloverfield describes it only as an enormous creature that knocks over buildings. Smaller parasites fall off its body and bite people.

BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION

The whole plot of Cloverfield is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.

You can skip eighty-five minutes of camcorder footage and still know exactly how Cloverfield goes. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur horror before you see it.

Get Scaredy Cat, free