Based in rural Louisiana, main character Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up from her bloodied pillow in an empty concrete room after being involved in a car accident. She finds herself handcuffed to a steel pipe and has a needle in her arm connected to an IV bag.
After trying to escape she is confronted by her "kidnapper'', Howard Stambler (John Goodman), who tells her that she is lucky to be alive and that there has been an "attack''.
He can't give details of the attack other than the air is contaminated.
It turns out she is being kept in an underground doomsday shelter and her host is a conspiracy theorist. Could he be right about his paranoid thoughts?
Or is this part of his plan to gain her trust?
This film is like an escape puzzle game with the camera lingering meaningfully on certain items which become important later on.
There are also casual hints while Howard is telling stories from his past which become clear as the film progresses.
It's hard to predict whether Howard is keeping Michelle alive from an attack above ground, or whether he has other motives for bringing her into his isolated world.
As the film progresses you are led to believe that you know exactly what is going on.
Then things take a sudden turn, then another.
The film even changes genre near the end which I wasn't too keen on.
What began as a psychological thriller eventually becomes an action packed sci-fi.
There is not a simple resolution at the end of this film as every possible outcome that you have imagined unfolds before your eyes.
10 Cloverfield Lane
Produced by J.J. Abrams
