Cloverfield (2008) - 11 trivia entries

When the credits have finished rolling there is a garbled radio transmission of what sounds like Rob saying "Help us." But when played in reverse you can clearly hear him saying "It's still alive."

The viral marketing story is incorporated into several parts of the movie. The first is the Slusho! shirt worn by Jason, given to him by Rob. Rob is leaving to work for Slusho! in Japan per his myspace account. Slusho! is owned by Tagruato Corporation, a company whose primary operations is off-shore drilling rigs. The company's logo is visible on the Tanker that is on fire during the Brooklyn Bridge scene. The Easter eggs show the destruction by the monster of Tagruato's Chaui drilling facility located about 2,000 off-shore of NY. The online viral character Jamie is seen passed out on the couch at the party. Her boyfriend, Teddy, who works for Tidowave, is seen on the bridge. Tidowave is an anti-Tagruato operation. At the end, while the camera looks over the Atlantic ocean, you'll see a falling object. The producer, JJ Abrams, has stated that this can be interpreted one of two ways: It's the monster falling out of the sky, or, a satellite which Tagruato reported on their website that they were actively assisting the Japanese government to locate.

The poison in the parasites that makes Marlena explode, is the secret additive "seabed nectar" in the Slusho! soda that Rob was going to Japan to work out a promotion campaign for. It is explained in the viral and the DVD bonus material.

JJ Abrams got the idea for cloverfield by looking at an aisle of toys which had a lot of Godzilla toys. He thought that Godzilla is the national monster of Japan, so he should make his own monster. This is confirmed on the DVD commentary by Matt Reeves.

In the Audio Commentary the Director shares that when Steven Spielberg watched the film before it was complete, he came up with the idea of the helicopter radio explaining "If you can hear the sirens, you're in the blast zone" and the sirens ringing at the end.

When Hud is talking to Marlena at the party, the song in the background has the lyrics: "Nobody notices til' someone explodes". Hm. Now what could this be foreshadowing?

In an interview, the director says he left a clue as to where the monster came from at the end of the movie, where the camera is overlooking the ocean. A missle shaped object can be seen in the right corner of the screen, hitting the water. He said that in the sequel he would clarify more on what that means.

After the people flying in the helicopter get swatted down by the monster, during the period of time when they hit the ground and the camera seems to "skip," pay close attention to the static. You will get a few frames of the two characters on a ferris wheel and for almost exactly one frame of the movie you will get a shot of King Kong in the old King Kong movie. Obviously a tribute to other monster movies from the past.

Jason is wearing a Slusho T-Shirt. Slusho is the drink that J.J. Abrams has used in Lost and Alias.

The last shot of the film on Coney Island was the first day of film shooting, the first shot at Beth's apartment, was the last day of film shooting. (DVD extra's, "Making of Cloverfield".)

The monster's age is confirmed on the DVD "Creation of the monster" segment. It's a baby! The thing that hits the ocean in the movie at the end is carrying an egg which hatches the monster in the ocean.