After one of the smartest Pavlovian marketing campaigns in years and a successful run at the box-office, Cloverfield finally finds its way to DVD. Prior to its release on 1.18.08, the folks at Paramount must have tested and projected this puppy well in advance to ensure they’d make good on their $30 million investment or at least stave off an underachieving marketing return at the box-office like Snakes on a Plane. Whatever the case, Cloverfield was a gamble that paid off in spades thanks to the mysterious viral marketing savvy of director J.J. Abrams.

The mystery:

If you haven’t seen the film and you’ve been waiting for it to land on DVD, I’m not going to spoil it for you here. If you’ve seen it, then you already know the film lived up to the monster mayhem. Given the secrecy leading up to the theatrical release, Cloverfield is best viewed unspoiled. However, our own Brian Tallerico of the Chicago Film Critics Association set things up perfectly in his film review when he checked out the film days prior to the release, "It starts with a tremor and moves quickly to massive city-shaking explosions, as the head of The Statue of Liberty bounces through the streets of Manhattan. When news footage pops up of a Godzilla-esque creature playing real-life Rampage with the buildings of New York City, most of Midtown runs for their lives..." If you’re going into the Cloverfield experience as a virgin, that’s all you need to know.

The hype:

Cloverfield is very similar in nature to the magic of The Blair Witch Project on several levels, including the intimate, single camera, hand-held man-on-the-street perspective. Also, the film taps into today’s current viral landscape to give younger moviegoers their own relatable monster movie. Those who have haven’t been able to identify with the many Godzilla movies from previous generations now have something to call their own. Despite being somewhat trumped by South Korean director Joon-ho Bong’s The Host in 2006 and 2007, Cloverfield still managed to captivate American moviegoers through curiosity and mystery. It all started with 1.18.08 and the rest is history. When you create a website and soft-drink brand called Slusho (Slush-O) that no one’s heard of, and then sprinkle hints around the web of a mysterious story and a looming danger, you’ve pretty much got people eating out of the palm of your hand. All that J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves had to do next was ring a bell and people would salivate their way into movie theaters. Who doesn’t love a good mystery or odd enigma to solve? After luring fans with his popular and mysterious Lost series on ABC, J.J. Abrams obviously knew he found a fun and entertaining formula that worked. In the end, the marketing magic behind Cloverfield has a lot more to do with human nature than anything else.

So, after all of the hype leading up to its theatrical debut, how does Cloverfield stack up on DVD?

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