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Matt Reeves' 2008 film "Cloverfield" was, prior to its release, shrouded in mystery. Advertising only hinted at some kind of horrendous, monster-based disaster, but was coy as to the exact nature of the threat. All people knew was that the Statue of Liberty was going to suffer some kind of major trauma: its head was ripped off and thrown down a Manhattan street. Those around at the time will likely recall rumors that "Cloverfield" was secretly a Godzilla film, and that the title was only a code word. 

The title was, in fact, a meaningless word that had nothing to do with the content of the film itself. It merely happens that executive producer J.J. Abrams worked out of an office on Cloverfield Blvd. in Santa Monica, CA. 

"Cloverfield" was also a notable entry in the then-growing trend of found-footage genre movies that peppered the landscape. The handheld aesthetic, and the...

We’re happy to report that this Goddard – Abrams – Reeves monster thriller holds up, when most everything else from the years of shaky-cam nausea and ‘found footage’ boredom disappoints. The ‘found’ video recording of the end of NYC is more than a gimmick, and it brings the panic for a you-are-there night of mayhem, chaos and destruction. The show was engineered to look like low-grade amateur video footage . . . so . . . why a 4K presentation? Curious format-philes will want to know.

Cloverfield 4K

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Code

Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment

2008 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 85 min. / 15th Anniversary Limited Edition SteelbookStreet Date January 23, 2023 / Available from / 30.99

Starring: Michael Stahl-David, Odette Yustman, T.J. Miller, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, Mike Vogel.

Cinematography: Michael Bonvillain

Production Designer: Martin Whist

Art Director: Doug J. Meerdink

Film Editor: Kevin Stitt

End title Music: Michael Giacchino

Written by Drew Goddard

Produced by J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk

Directed by...

A couple of years ago, a fun short horror film was released online called Teddy Bears Are For Lovers. The short went viral and now it's being adapted into a feature film. According to Deadline, Lost and Cloverfield cinematographer Michael Bonvillain is the guy who has jumped on board to direct it.

The story follows a man named Collin who is haunted by all the teddy bears that he gave to his ex-girlfriends. These teddy bears attack him with a vengeance and it's the funniest damn thing as he and his current girlfriend try to escape these blood-thirsty stuffed animals. If you haven't seen the short yet, I posted it for you to watch below.

To make things even better, Bonvillain is also apparently in talks with Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop to build the evil teddy bears and work on the effects of the film!

The short film comes from David Ernesto Vendrell,...

Valentine’s Day may be over, but the nightmare of forgotten exes will never die. In fact, it may come back to stab you in the leg. Two years ago, a viral short film made in the vein of Gremlins caught the eye of the internet, and of Lost and Cloverfield cinematographer Michael Bonvillain. We wrote about the funny and smart horror […]

The post ‘Lost’ and ‘Cloverfield’ Cinematographer to Direct Killer Teddy Bear Movie appeared first on /Film.

Endless Media announced ahead of Efm that Michael Bonvillain, the cinematographer behind numerous hit feature film and TV series such as Cloverfield, Zombieland and “Lost,” will direct the darkly comedic horror feature Teddy Bears Are For Lovers, Bloody Disgusting learned. The film, set during a campus-wide Valentine’s Day party, follows college playboy Collin and his current head-over-heels girlfriend Sarah […]...

Exclusive: The teddy bears are coming to life… and death. Lost and Cloverfield cinematographer Michael Bonvillain is making his directorial debut with dark comedy Teddy Bears Are For Lovers and is in talks with Lords of the Rings director Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop to build the malevolent teddy bears. The film is based on a short film by David Ernesto Vendrell, Matthew Hawksworth and Almog Avidan Antonir, produced by Endless Media and exec produced by Inner Space and Gr…...

Rejoice: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg To Adapt Another Comic Property, This One From ‘The Walking Dead’ Creator Robert KirkmanIt’s called ‘Invincible,’ and it’s headed to the big screen.

Fresh off the success of Preacher, the Vertigo comic they adapted into a television series for AMC, THR is reporting that writers, producers, and directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Superbad, This is the End, The Interview) are heading back to the funny-book mine for their next big-screen project, and the vein they’re tapping is Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead.

See, though Kirkman is best known for his zombie drama, shortly before he started publishing Twd he released Invincible, about teenager Mark Grayson just trying to survive adolescence with two big asterisks attached: one, he’s superpowered, and two, so’s his pop, in fact he’s the most powerful being on the planet. Rogen and Goldberg will be writing, producing...

Using shock tactics in a film designed to bring attention to rape and blood minerals in Congo means fewer people will watch

It begins with a small blond girl picking flowers in the garden of her multimillion pound Cotswold home and ends five minutes later with her running from a scene of such horror it made me feel faint and others physically sick. Not for nothing is the film called Unwatchable.

Depicting the vicious gang rape of a teenage girl on her kitchen table and the gruesome murder of her parents, the film is not a snuff movie but a campaign video made on behalf of Save the Congo. We tend to overuse the word visceral to describe mildly diverting films but I defy anyone not to react to these scenes. Based on a tale of everyday horror in eastern Congo, but transported to the sunny uplands of Chipping Sodbury...

Zombie movies have been one of the staples of horror cinema for years, known best through George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Horror and comedy rarely make a fine mix; one of the very few exceptions was the 2004 hit Shaun of the Dead. A new film enters that exclusive list, Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland. Tying in a proper balance of gore and laughs, this movie is blood-gushing roller coaster ride that you will not want to get off of.

The story follows ‘Columbus’ (Jesse Eisenberg), a soft spoken college student who is one of few survivors of what’s better known as Zombieland. Quickly he joins an unlikely group of people, like the zombie-killing machine Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), the seductive Wichita (Emma Stone) and the clever Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).

One of the stronger points of the film is not the comedic timing, but the overall pace. There...

Zombies, like vampires, are the rock stars of the horror genre. From George A. Romero.s .Night of the Living Dead. to 2004.s .Shaun of the Dead,. zombies have fed our hunger for flesh-eating mayhem.

With the release of .28 Days Later. and .Shaun of the Dead,. the zombie genre has had a makeover. No longer are the zombies slow and almost immovable, they are now fast and furious.

And it.s just not enough that zombie movies are scary. They also can be funny. .Zombieland. fits right in the funny and scary category. Star Woody Harrelson brings the right charisma to make .Zombieland. one of the most entertaining films this year that is a quasi-buddy movie with a road trip angle and a romantic sentiment.

The plot is pretty simple. Set in the distant future, a new strain of mad cow disease has turned humans into the undead. Now, zombies...

Even if you prefer slow zombies to the fast kind and the serious undead to funny ghouls, you’re likely to get a kick out of Zombieland (screening at Austin, TX’s currently running Fantastic Fest and opening nationwide next Friday). Like many of the better horror/comedies, it doesn’t so much poke fun at the genre as plunk a group of humorous characters down into a dire situation and let ’er rip.

Our guide through an America overtaken by the walking dead is a young man who will come to be called Columbus (more on the nomenclature in a moment), played by Jesse Eisenberg. A former shut-in who was never comfortable around others, he has found himself in an existence not much more devoid of human contact than it was before—aside from the hordes of former living that are now trying to eat him. Having adopted a...

Wearing Western gear—cowboy boots, hat and black coat—actor Woody Harrelson strides up on the (fake) night-shrouded porch of a Texas gift shop filled with American Indian tourist kitsch. Using his sawn-off, double-barreled shotgun, he dings the bell above the entrance to “Kimo Sabe’s” and steps to one side. Like one of Pavlov’s dogs, the now-zombified owner lurches toward the front door. All flesh-chewing instinct, the ghoul doesn’t see Harrelson hiding and gets a head shot from the gun, dropping like a sack of rotting enchiladas.

The kill, as physically shot, is bloodless (no squib used, but splatter may be digitally added in postproduction). It’s a far cry from the gore-drenched chaos and killing Fango witnessed 10 days earlier, when the gutters of Atlanta, Georgia literally ran with blood as first-time feature director Ruben Fleischer supervised a scene of mass mayhem, featuring over 25 zombies attacking screaming,...

In the spirit of the recent Academy Awards, Brian Solomon from The Vault of Horror blog put together The 2008 Cyber Horror Awards ballot, which was sent out to the usual group of horror bloggers as detailed here.

Out of all of the nominated films, the only one I haven't seen is Martyrs (and some of Repo! - more on that in a bit). From what I've heard, I may have voted very differently had I been able to see this film. With this in mind, I suggested that the French film Inside (with it's 2008 DVD release in the U.S.) should be on this year's ballot and Martyrs (with it's U.S. DVD release coming up in a few weeks) should be on next year's ballot, but I was overruled.

With that, here are my selections, the nominees and the winners from the 2008 Cyber Horror Awards Ballot.

Ray Harryhausen Award...