Cloverfield DVD Review

I received my review copy of the Cloverfield DVD, and have finally had the chance to go through and watch everything.

First off, the packing is pretty basic. We've seen this artwork for a while, so it's not too surprising. There was also a "declassified" sticker on the outer shrink-wrap, and a "Project Cloverfield" sticker (seen above) sealing the edge of the DVD case, which also has the mysterious Sword logo on it.

One other thing, the stickers and the cover all contain a different 11-digit number - in this case 11112014349, 11112014265, and 11111012009. It's probably nothing, but worth noting.

Inside the case, there are no inserts, just the DVD. The DVD artwork is pretty plain - the Cloverfield logo on sort of a "weathered" steel look.

The DVD contains the following:

• The movie - obviously ;) You can watch the movie with a running commentary by Matt Reeves, which I highly recommend if you have already seen the movie a few times.
  
• Document 01.18.08: The Making Of Cloverfield - This documentary details the making of the movie, scene-by-scene, and the various locations used.
  
• Cloverfield Visual Effects - My favorite bonus feature, this shows all the special effects used throughout the movie.
  
• I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge! - This feature focuses on the design of Clover and the parasites.
  
• Clover Fun - Blooper reel.
  
• Deleted Scenes - Four deleted scenes that can be view with or without commentary.
  
• Alternate Endings - Two alternate endings that can be view with or without commentary.
  
• Previews - Trailers for Star Trek and Indiana Jones.
• www.CloverfieldFiles.com - This website mentioned on the Special Features menu will likely contain more info on the viral maketing part of Cloverfield, with links to the various websites.

Easter Eggs (location hidden in black)

• X Marks The Spot - This Easter Egg shows the subway tunnel parasite scene with Xs instead of parasites, showing how the scene looked before the SFX were added. (You can find this in the Scene Selection menu, just above scene #10)
  
• Rack'em & Pack'em - This humorous montage spoofs a scene in the movie with Lt. Col. Graff (played by Chris Mulkey, aka Hank Jennings). "Rack'em and Pack'em, we're phantoms in 15!" (This easter egg can be found on the Setup menu by navigating to the right from the Español menu option. A helicopter will appear where the head of the Statue of Liberty's head should go.)
• Supplemental Files - As mentioned previously, there are some pieces from the ARG on the DVD, hidden in a mysterious "Chapter 17". This Supplemental Files section has: four of the Tagruato Chuai station news videos (English, Spanish, French and Japanese), a semi-interactive Slusho page, where you can watch the Slusho! commercial, and four of the Jamie and Teddy videos (#2, 5, 9, & 11). (This Easter egg can be found by waiting 1:17 on the 13-16 Scene Seletion menu, which will cause Chapter 17 to appear.)

There is a lot of great stuff there. The only glaring omission is the Cloverfield trailers are nowhere to be found. There also could be a little more coverage of the ARG, but we'll have to wait and see what turns up on CloverfieldFiles.

Grade: Two Thumbs, Way up!

* Special thanks to Tamar and Scott!

TidoWave.com Sword update

The TidoWave.com site has received it's sword, meaning every Cloverfield related site has been 'hacked', including this one (how did they do that? ;). But why, and by who (whom?)

* Thanks to Bubba8193 and Nick P for emailing me first!

JamieAndTeddy.com Sword Update - t543w

JamieAndTeddy.com received a sword update today. Click the teddy bear photo, and login to see it (password: jllovesth). Teddy, is that you leaving these?

BTW, The file name of the sword image is t543w.jpg, which is likely to have some future significance.

Superfuzzzz points out that the sword logo may be TidoWave's - with the sword representing the T(ido) and the swirly thing the Wave. Sure, why not.

UPDATE: Another sword has appeared on the front page of the JamieAndTeddy.com as well.

* Thanks to sarara at unFiction for finding this update!

Tagruato Sword Update

The Tagruato.jp website has now been tagged with the Sword logo - on the About Us page and the Deep Sea Drilling page. There appear to be no other updates at this time.

Also noteworthy, the Sword on the Slusho.jp page has shrunk and turned to black.

Are we missing something... or will the next step be a Sword on the TidoWave.com or JamieAnd Teddy.com sites?

* Thanks to Sajid A and Nick P for the update!

1-18-08.com - Photo #12 - Teddy Hanssen Missing

A new photo has appeared on 1-18-08.com. This is no April fools joke - it looks the the ARG may be on again!

On the back of the photo is a familiar symbol - the sword symbol from the Slusho! website. Next to the symbol looks like a number, which I'm guessing says #430, but it's very small and hard to read.



Teddy Hanssen, of course, was the boyfriend of Jamie Lascano, until he went missing last December. It is believed that he was captured or killed by Tagruato (or the monster) while investigating the Chuai station. Teddy's final message can be heard at JamieAndTeddy.com.


UPDATE: the link above is to our mirror of the original 1-18-08 site. DO NOT go to the original 1-18-08 website anymore. The domain expired and is no longer controlled by Paramount, and someone else snatched it up to run ads with malware.

* Thanks to Eddy M. and Bradley S. for the news!

Slusho 'Sword' Update

There is a mysterious update to the Slusho website. A strange symbol, which looks like a sword and a quote balloon, is appearing on the main page, and on the contest page. I checked the site, and don't see any other changes, or anything else hidden in the flash files - so I don't know what to make of it. Let the wild speculation begin...

* Thanks to Luis S for pointing this out!