Matt Reeves has only made two feature films so far but in my opinion, they were both incredible. At only 84 minutes, Cloverfield (his first film), was a lean, mean monster movie that offered a fresh spin on the found footage genre. Employing a pseudo-documentary handheld camera style, director Matt Reeves created a remarkable and economical approach to show widespread panic in Manhattan, by blending computer-generated and real footage, and limiting our perspective to just what Hud sees through his viewfinder. Even if it’s gimmicky filmmaking, it still makes for a surprisingly gripping thriller.
Recently Reeves spoke with Total Film Magazine about a Cloverfield sequel, and had the following to say:
“Well, you are going to see it – we just don’t know when [laughs]. At the moment we are talking about the story quite a lot. Drew Goddard, who wrote the original, is going to pen the sequel and JJ Abrams is very much involved. However, the three of us have been so busy that getting the right idea together has been taking a long time.”
When asked if the film would be in the same real-time format Reeves replied:
“You see, that’s a difficult part: we want it to be shot like the first but how can you continue that idea successfully for a second time? We have a lot of affection for the original and the sequel can’t just be the same thing. But that is tricky when you need to have a monster destroying stuff once again.”
As much as I would rather see a talented director take on a fresh new story, a sequel to Cloverfield would be most welcome, but only if Reeves takes a different approach in telling the story. The original film is one of the best if not the best of the fond footage genre, and Reeves seems to be the only director in the past decade who has successfully made an alien invasion movie. It would be interesting to see if he can actually top the original.