Monday, January 14, 2008

MEGA-SPOILER! Cloverfield Monster Revealed

With mere days to go, the Cloverfield hype machine is cranking at a fever pitch, and now the mother of all spoilers has dropped. This is something that has been out there for a couple of days now, but owing to my exceptional journalistic integrity, I was sitting on it until it could be reasonably confirmed.

The drawing of the giant beastie that tears up Manhattan in the film that opens this weekend first appeared on /Film a couple of days ago, and now the fanboys over at Unfiction have apparently confirmed that it was made by someone who actually attended an advanced screening of the movie:

(Note to self: If you ever make a giant monster movie, make sure not to invite any professional illustrators to the advanced screening.)

I will say that the extra set of massive claws is a neat touch, but other than that, it seems decidedly run-of-the-mill after all the hype we've been inundated with. Then again, could anything live up to it? I think movie marketers are going to find that is the problem with this new viral craze--it inevitably leads to backlash and disappointment. Of course, all the webgeeks also need to realize that they probably make up 15-20% of the people who will be going to see this movie, tops. Meaning that the vast majority of its sure-to-be-record-setting audience this weekend has probably never been exposed to a single pixel of Cloverfield internet propaganda.

For several more fan illustrations of the monster, go to /Film.