Man, J.J. Abrams surely must be pissed. The director/producer and Bad Robot visionary is notoriously meticulous and nearly conspiratorial about his heavily guarded secrets. His clandestine mystery box techniques on "Cloverfield" were pioneering in the world of viral movie marketing. Of course, this strategy has backfired too (see “Star Trek: Into Darkness”), but Abrams and co. seemed to have learned their lessons, refined their schema with the mysterious suspense thriller “10 Cloverfield Lane.”
Dan Trachtenberg’s tense and claustrophobic flick followed the same close-to-the-vest, buzz building technique of “Cloverfield.” And the gambit worked, with the movie already grossing over $53 million domestically, and critical notices are (for the most part) overwhelmingly positive. It’s also the kind of old-school, thrilling cinematic experience in which the best way to enjoy it is to walk in equipped with as little information as possible.
Unfortunately, a new international trailer for the film dropped recently, and it totally gives away the big reveal at the end of Trachtenberg’s sort-of sequel. The spot itself runs a mercifully brief one minute and thirteen seconds, but it still finds time to give away some of the movie’s more integral twists and it somehow succeeds in ruining the showstopper of a surprise ending that so many “Cloverfield” fans have managed to avoid up until this point. And if that’s not enough, the poster also gives up the goods
I’m normally impartial when it comes to discussing “spoilers” in regards to, say, tentpole or superhero flicks, but for a comparatively small-scale flick like “10 Cloverfield Lane,” this just seems like a lapse in good judgment. It’s not for nothing that this new “Cloverfield” flick is earning comparisons to the classic “Twilight Zone” TV show: this is a movie that stays one step ahead of you at every turn, and part of the pleasure is seeing just how and when Trachtenberg decides to dispense with crucial information. In any case, here’s the spoiler-rific international trailer, which you should not by any means watch if you haven’t seen “10 Cloverfield Lane” yet.