What Is “Cloverfield”?

UPDATED AGAIN (see below): For those who’ve seen Transformers in the theater, a teaser for something new from J.J. Abrams has us intrigued.

The trailer seems to be for a big monster on a rampage movie shot in the cinema verite’ style (where all the characters have a video camera – think Blair Witch). The sting with the Statue Of Liberty is making geek blood boil over in a great way.

It’s all for a film with the code name “Cloverfield“. But what’s it about?

Ain’t It Cool News has a rumor that it has something to do with H.P. Lovecraft’s Old Ones. This theory gets its steam from “Cloverfield“s “official” site EthanHaasWasRight.com . There you have to solve puzzles to get hints.  But the report on AICN said they heard mention of Alhazred… the mad Arab who wrote the Necronomicon of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos.  I haven’t found anything like that yet.

There’s also an blog that speaks of the god’s agenda…

“And they will come upon the earth only after the skies rain down fire and the very earth itself is made to shake and the great cities of men fall into ruins. Their plans are set and their purpose is clear; they come for war.”

For those who haven’t seen the trailer, Yahoo! News summed it up nicely:

“The trailer opens with scenes from a surprise going-away party in a New York bar with a view of the city. Before long, a thundering roar is heard, and by the time guests run downstairs, pandemonium and flaming debris are hitting the streets. After a huge explosion at the lower end of Manhattan, what appears to be the head of the Statue of Liberty comes hurtling up the street like a giant projectile.”

Personally, I think the film is inspired by Lovecraft, but not a direct adaptation. There have also been murmurings of the monster being a “parasite”.

The only thing we know for sure is that Abrams is producing, Matt Reeves, co-creator of Felicity is directing and Lost‘s Drew Goddard wrote the script. Thank god Comic-Con is fast approaching so we can get some answers.

UPDATE: YoPress.com has all 5 Ethan Haas videos from the website. Now you don’t have to solve the puzzles (unless you have gobs of time this weekend). No mention of Old Ones or any other Lovecraftian hints.

There’s also a site that points to the parasite theory, though that site is down at the moment.

FURTHER UPDATE: Then we have Jeffrey Wells who has this quote on his Hollywood Elsewhere site:

“A guy in the pipeline of producer J.J. Abrams currently vacationing in Maine, informs that Cloverfield, the sea-monster movie, will open on 1.18.08.“

“Sea-monster movie”, eh? And the odd thing is that Wells’ post originally cited Abrams himself as the source, then mysteriously changed it to “a guy”.

UPDATE: There’s new info from Abrams! Denials actually. Check it out.