Cloverfield, the mysterious new monster movie from J.J. Abrams with a title that sounds like a brand of cigarettes that might have been popular in the '20s, is set to open with midnight screenings around Portland tomorrow night. I'm sure I'll see it over the weekend but I'm not going to head in with super-high expectations. I've made a point of avoiding early reviews and spoilers because I'd like to see a movie knowing as little about it as possible for a change. While the viral marketing surrounding Cloverfield has shrouded the movie in secrecy I'm not expecting anything more than 90-minutes of Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project.

Here's hoping there's more to it than that. Something like a twist ending or a last-second revelation that the entire movie is a practical joke would be nice. Maybe it will tie into Lost or perfectly sync-up with a random Neil Diamond album. Or maybe in the last 30-seconds a character will shout out "that isn't a monster the size of a skyscraper, it's a blood-thirsty clone of Max Weinberg the size of a skyscraper!"

Regardless, here's hoping this is the beginning of a trend. I've never understood why this time of year is used as a dumping ground for low-budget horror movies and quick n' cheap romantic comedies. The weather is lousy and the holidays are over. There's not much going on between New Year's and the Super Bowl. What better time of year to pack audiences into movie theaters?

Labels: movie