Before I went off to Australia in late March, I saw two movies almost back to back - Cloverfield and The Mist. Both movies are of the same genres - horror, sci-fi and thriller all rolled into one. I couldn't really decide which one I like better...
Cloverfield is a movie about a monster attacking Manhattan all seen through the camcorder. It is like The Blair Witch Project. Everything is shaky (as seen through the camcorder) and you are thrown into the whole experience the characters were faced with and thus, getting involved in the movie itself. You realised that you only know as much as the characters do. You don't know what is going to happen next or who is going to die next. You are kept at the edge of your seat. Throughout the movie, you can't really see the monster but yet the terror is present... That's what I liked about the movie, the suspense created. By the end of the movie, there isn't really an ending. I was left guessing if the survivors survived... that is part of the charm of Cloverfield.
The Mist is a much more straight forward movie. You are thrown into the story pretty quickly with a freaky storm knocking out power and the characters heading into the town's grocery store where it all happened - the mist. The characters realised that there are strange ceatures in the mist and deadly too. The town folks soon found themselves having to fight against what is out there - the creatures and to fight against what is within - human fear and irrationality. In between the fighting against the creatures, the differences in handling stress which resulted in the raw display of emotions and chaos seemed to me, far worse than the creatures outside the store. The ending is a tragic twist. I like The Mist, not just because there are deadly creatures, but also for the emotions depicted in the movie. The Mist is an emotional piece of movie for a horror movie.
Cloverfield and The Mist are both movies that left me thinking. Cloverfield made me think about why it happened and how would it end for the survivors. The Mist made me think about human emotions and the vulnerability/ strength of humans in the face of fear.
Fear is a major element in both movies. But I think in The Mist, fear has a much deeper purpose than that of scaring us silly. The fear in The Mist showed us how easy it is to destroy the structure of society. The fear in The Mist showed us that it can make us do things which we could or would never do in normal circumstances. That leaves alot to think about, for me at least, it does. Hey, maybe I do like one of the movies better...
Here's the trailers for Cloverfield and The Mist respectively.
Cloverfield - Theatrical Trailer
The Mist - Trailer 2
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