10 Cloverfield Lane

Cloverfield proved that a film made in secret can stomp triumphantly to the bank. Eight years after that giant monster movie, producer JJ Abrams brings back the name for another covertly produced sci-fi thriller, 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) leaves Baton Rouge and her fiancee, Ben, for who knows where. She didn't want to end up in the path of a speeding pick-up. But that's where she ended up. When she comes through, she's trapped in Howard's bunker.

Howard (John Goodman) is the conspiracy theorist who brought Michelle to safety. Emmet is the local who invited himself into Howard's bunker. They both tell Michelle the same thing: a major catastrophe has made the air outside unbreathable. They're all Michelle has for company for the next few years or so.

Michelle doesn't find Howard's violent mood swings hospitable. So she and Emmet try to find some way to the surface. But what if Howard is right? What if something unimaginable wrecked the world?

This $15 million thriller marks the feature directorial debut of Internet celebrity Dan Trachtenberg (The Totally Rad Show). It's a perfectly claustrophobic thriller. Michelle spends much of the 105 runtime in the confines of the bunker. Howard isn't nice, but we slowly get clues that whatever happened outside isn't nice either. We wait in anticipation as to how Michelle gets out of it. Let's hope Trachtenberg doesn't end up like Josh Trank, whose low budget success story Chronicle was followed by the big budget mess Fantastic Four.

John Goodman, as Howard, adds to the tension. He's a control freak who swings between nice and scary in a second. In fact, he's so domineering that his niceness is open to scrutiny. All he wants from Michelle and Emmett is for them to behave. Even them holding hands is enough to set him off. Whatever is outside can't be worse than him. Right?

Michelle is an equally capable protagonist. You can't blame her for greeting her situation with skepticism. It's a nightmare even if it wasn't because of a catastrophe. She uses any chance she gets to escape. And by the end, she goes from running away (like from Ben) to facing her problems head on. It's a very compelling arc.

The sound mix, cinematography, production design and score complete the claustrophobia. Those elements make 10 Cloverfield Lane one of the best thrillers out there. It'll stay in the public memory just as long as the first movie. Don't be disappointed when the ending hits. I thought it was a sensible one.