Cloverfield

So what can you say about this creature feature?

Well, it doesn’t want to be a teacher, and it’s not an overreacher.

Cloverfield has one thing on its mind — to scare the bejesus out of us.

And that it achieves.

It’s a disaster thriller that wisely shows just enough of its central monster — that is to say, not much at all — to keep the flames of fear burning throughout. Once things get rolling, just try, I dare you, to take your eyes off the screen.

With J.J. Abrams (executive producer of TV’s Lost and Alias, director of Mission: Impossible III and the upcoming Star Trek prequel) as one of the producers, the makers wanted to keep their central surprise and main attraction — the big bad beastie — under wraps.

So, while borrowing a page from the viral marketing approach first demonstrated and made viable by the creators of The Blair Witch Project, then fumbled by the pilots of Snakes on a Plane, the Cloverfield producers conquered the Internet even as they hid their movie under a succession of fake working titles, including “Slusho,” “Cheese,” “1-18-08,” “Clover,” and the inevitable “Untitled J.J. Abrams Project.”

Finally, Cloverfield, the name of a boulevard in Santa Monica and initially just a code name for the surreptitious undertaking, became the film’s official title.

And as you sit through it, you realize why this was the most effective approach to take: The anticipation before the film even begins of seeing just what it is that has foisted itself upon its unsuspecting victims becomes part of the suspense buildup.

Smart move.

Cloverfield is a science fiction thriller about a skyscraper-sized monster that attacks New York City. The story is told through the points of view (literally, documented entirely by their camcorder footage) of five young Manhattanites who are throwing a surprise going-away party for a friend on the night of the attack.

It is their collective attempt to survive this surreal, horrifying assault that comprises the narrative spine.

This is the second movie directed by Matt Reeves, a screenwriter and TV director whose first foray into feature film was as the director of the excellent and undervalued The Pallbearer in 1996.

Working from a script by TV writer Drew Goddard, he shoots in digital video using purposely shaky, handheld video cameras, with frenetic jump cuts the order of the day.

The film offers a number of terrifyingly realistic and breathlessly exciting action sequences, when the central characters are under attack and we’re on the edge of our seats.

You can expect follow-up nightmares.

On the other hand, there are also brazenly unrealistic liberties taken with the grace-under-pressure behavior of the characters and their Energizer Bunny video equipment. We do notice all this, but we’re too caught up in the mayhem to care.

Some of the special effects are truly astonishing, and Reeves’ use of limited perspective and light is downright masterful.

As for his mostly unknown ensemble of actors, they do a respectable job of appropriate semi-improvising.

If the film is not quite a metaphor for the tragic events of 9/11 and its aftermath, you cannot not think of them. At any rate, it certainly speaks to the fears and anxieties of the post-9/11 era. Featuring iconic imagery, such as a beheaded Statue of Liberty, the finished product at times recalls Orson Welles’ radio version of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds.

At other times it summons memories of its cheesy forefather, Godzilla, the recent Korean horror thriller, The Host, and the shooting style of The Blair Witch Project. And at all times, it gets under your skin.

So we’ll shoot video of 3 stars out of 4 for the one-dimensional but intense Cloverfield.

Don’t go for escape or relaxation. But you will get to know your armrest: this one just might scare the clover right out of your field.