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1-18-08

Secretofmateria

Secretofmateria

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,424


I recall being in the movie theatre seeing pirates of the carribean at worlds end, when curiously this odd Yet engrossing trailer played. The film wasnt given a title, but simply a release date.1-18-08. I went home and looked up the film and found a website with photo's on it. The pics depicted a mysterious creature swimming around an oil rig, beached whales with entire bites taken out of their sternems, and the vague sillouhette of a creature leaving a trail of destruction through new york city. For a good 6 months, cloverfield was all i could think about. I read every fan theory, every forum board, and i carefully inspected every inch of that website. I must have rewatched the trailer numerous times in search of clues, any hints as to what this monster might be. To this day there is something absolutley haunting about lady liberty's scarred head flying down the street.
cloverfield_shots.jpg
Did that man say "its a lion, its huge!" Or "its alive, its huge!"? So many questions. The internet had many theories.Some thought it was a voltron film, some thought cthulu, people even thought it was a new american godzilla film.

i ended up really enjoying the film, but i will always remember the arg that lead up to the films release. Its up there along with the dark knight and super 8 as one of my favorite arg marketing campaigns.
 
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Deleted member 44371

Banned
Jun 1, 2018
4,523
the marketing campaign was soooo good. the anticipation was almost better than the movie itself. i just wish we could have gotten a real sequel
 

JehutyRunner

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,140
In terms of out there reveals in films pre-launch, the Cloverfield franchise has been brilliant.

From the campaign for the first film to the surprise reveal of 10 Cloverfield Lane to even the Netflix one.
 
RLCC14

RLCC14

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,447
Yeah Cloverfield was the first time I got hooked on an ARG. Movie itself was damn good (and the only other found footage movie I really enjoy) but that marketing was so good.
 
chrisPjelly

chrisPjelly

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
10,496
Man, that and the sequel turned out to be an amazing experiment. To bad that other movie was forced into the series.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,028
This is how I felt about the Blair Witch Project, 10 years earlier. It's quaint and silly to think about it now, but the marketing and setup for Blair Witch was so well done and it was released at just the right time where you could find shit online about it, but there wasn't the sort of internet community like today to show that it's a fake movie. "Found footage" was still a new concept for most kids like myself. Even when the movie came out I wasn't really sure if it wasn't legit found footage of this lost exploration. There was also nothing like it at the time that most people had exposure too... the horror movies in the run up to Blair Witch were movies like SCREAM and I Know What You Did Last Summer, blockbusters with household names and every horror trope in the book and because this was pre-streaming, pre-netflix, etc., you couldn't just binge every horror movie or find movies like it. It was wholy original.
 
Masterz1337

Masterz1337

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,794
Awesome movie with shit non sequels that had nothing to do with it. Really wish they'd continue the story
 
PSOreo

PSOreo

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,260
Loved Cloverfield and all the build up to its release. The Dharma logo in the opening card was a cool touch at the time.
 
OP
OP
Secretofmateria

Secretofmateria

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,424
OmegaSmash said:
Yeah Cloverfield was the first time I got hooked on an ARG. Movie itself was damn good (and the only other found footage movie I really enjoy) but that marketing was so good.
Click to expand...
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like i said i really liked the movie, but that marketing campaign just stuck with me. It was so brilliant and at the time i was 15. I hadnt seen anything else like it except maybe for halo 2's i love bees. I also have to give credit for the way wb did the dark knight. From the i believe in harvey dent website, to solving real world riddles to unlock the first image of heath ledgers joker and the first trailer. It was honestly brilliant
 
Capra

Capra

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,612
The ARG was amazing to witness in real-time, as people put the pieces together and new videos and photos were gradually uncovered.

That roar still gives me chills:
 
ClickyCal'

ClickyCal'

Member
Oct 25, 2017
59,687
I actually followed all of this, it was so fun. I remember 100s of design predictions and everything about slusho.
 
Soapbox Killer

Soapbox Killer

Member
Oct 28, 2017
27,119
One of the most hyped things I had ever seen. The balls not to show the name of the movie during the trailer, freakin' brilliant. The build up, the online stuff. All of it was great.
 
Capra

Capra

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,612
Poppy said:
remember when that lady exploded and they never really expounded on that at all

pretty cool
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The ARG makes it more explicit, but the crab things that fall off of the monster are like giant deep-sea lice. Their bite is supposed to bring blood to the surface, but it's designed for a massive sea monster in a pressurized environment so when it bites a person...

Really, the movie is more like another puzzle piece in the ARG. Presumably a sequel would've expounded upon the conspiracy behind the creature's rampage, which no joke involves a fucking soft drink company drilling into its amniotic sac in order to collect the nectar inside because yeah, that thing's a fucking infant. Or it could've just been another puzzle piece in the form of someone else's footage.
 

moeppel

Member
Oct 26, 2017
325
the sound design in this movie was just insane, soooo good.

quite long ago though :/ hope someday we will get a true sequel.
 
thecouncil

thecouncil

Member
Oct 29, 2017
12,340
i only saw this movie once but i remember the main guy finding his dead girlfriend and then he started crying and then a magic tear fell on his dead girlfriend and she came back to life.
 
Capra

Capra

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,612
A lot of thought actually went into the design of the monster, which made it even more engaging to analyze the movie as a part of the ARG. The little "arms" you see on its stomach when it eats Hud are supposed to be like vacuum cleaners that eat human-sized prey from the bottom of the ocean with teeth-like fingers. I always hoped we'd get to see them in a sequel.
 
Buttonbasher

Buttonbasher

Member
Dec 4, 2017
4,053
Seeing this thread title made me so happy. Loved the entire experience of the ARG, and the movie itself. 10 Cloverfield Lane too. Hoping they eventually return and do something cool to redeem things after Paradox.
 
Rotobit

Rotobit

Editor at Nintendo Wire
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
10,196
I have weird amounts of nostalgia for the year 2008 in general, seeing as it was the year I finished high school and there were a bunch of major releases in terms of movies and games (Smash Bros. Brawl was hype)

But oddly I mostly remember the Cloverfield hype thanks to the Nostalgia Critic... Which is a shame.
 
Tawpgun

Tawpgun

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,861
Did the marketing campaign go into the origins of the monster?

I recall (from the ending) that it was assumed it was an alien plant of some kind. It came down really quickly just off of Coney Island.

I thought that was how it was supposed to tie in to 10 Cloverfield Lane.
 
CyrilFiggis

CyrilFiggis

Member
Nov 3, 2017
939
Pennsylvania
Love me some Cloverfield. I even somewhat enjoyed Paradox.

I watched Overlord on Amazon a bit ago, and given that it was originally supposed to be tied into the Cloverfield universe I've been wondering how that would have worked out given the time period.
 
onpoint

onpoint

Neon Deity Games
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
14,956
716
The Albatross said:
This is how I felt about the Blair Witch Project, 10 years earlier. It's quaint and silly to think about it now, but the marketing and setup for Blair Witch was so well done and it was released at just the right time where you could find shit online about it, but there wasn't the sort of internet community like today to show that it's a fake movie. "Found footage" was still a new concept for most kids like myself. Even when the movie came out I wasn't really sure if it wasn't legit found footage of this lost exploration. There was also nothing like it at the time that most people had exposure too... the horror movies in the run up to Blair Witch were movies like SCREAM and I Know What You Did Last Summer, blockbusters with household names and every horror trope in the book and because this was pre-streaming, pre-netflix, etc., you couldn't just binge every horror movie or find movies like it. It was wholy original.
Click to expand...
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I remember being young, stupid and so disappointed when they were doing roll call for Letterman and they announced "the cast of the Blair Witch Project" would be on that night. In hindsight, I should have been happier they were alive and healthy, and that witches weren't real.
 
adj_noun

adj_noun

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
17,211
Shoutout to my favorite fake monster concept:

y9KFJEG0-h9H3_Yx_Qouf9Atyak8t4etyI9ipLwdFXZr1o0MLlqfZr_I-B0u6LHqEiCaVuBrEquWKPxl8Xo


Anyhoo, my favorite Cloverfield story involves the ARG. People were, ah, very dedicated to sniffing out its secrets. I'm talking calling random people on the phone because in their delirium they thought they'd plucked a phone number from the ether nuts.

Ultimately this resulted in the hunt for Cloverfield secrets crashing headlong into another ARG, one being done by these PnP RPG people doing something about angels and demons. Anyhoo, the Cloverfield folks thought it was connected to their ARG for a hot minute, and suddenly those poor bastards were getting swarmed by people trying to interact with their ARG asking questions about giant monsters and Slusho and shit.

To their eternal credit, the other ARG did their best to let the Cloverfield people they weren't going to get any answers from them while still staying in character the whole time. I've always wondered what their reaction was to this sudden influx of interest, all to realize it was because of this damn monster movie, heh.
 
Treestump

Treestump

Member
Mar 28, 2018
8,364
I have such a soft spot for this movie, warts and all. The build-up to it was fascinating and engaging. Opening night is one of my more memorable theater experiences. That crowd was so into it, it was so much fun.


Capra said:
The ARG was amazing to witness in real-time, as people put the pieces together and new videos and photos were gradually uncovered.

That roar still gives me chills:
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So good.
 
adj_noun

adj_noun

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
17,211
Treestump said:
I have such a soft spot for this movie, warts and all. The build-up to it was fascinating and engaging. Opening night is one of my more memorable theater experiences. That crowd was so into it, it was so much fun.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

My crowd (of like 20 people) had no idea what the hell they were watching.

When it was over one guy got up and said "That was the best Godzilla movie I've ever seen."
 
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