I think i'm going to be sick...

Good morning Consumers. This is please consume, the film newsletter that will never pay full price for Peacock.

This is what we got for today 👇️ 

• Tom gives us the final creature for Monster Week!

• The staff gives you their picks for what you should be watching this weekend.

• Netflix has a new #1 show.

Let’s get rolling…

Cloverfield (2008)

Written by Tom Fortner

A party.

People are drinking, smiling. Their only concern is to celebrate their friend who’s going away.

Suddenly the building shakes. They rush up to the rooftop, see an explosion, and run into the street. A shape emerges through the dust and slams into the street. It’s the head of the Statue of Liberty.

And… black. That’s the trailer. No movie name, no date. Just: From producer J.J. Abrams.

It’s one of the greatest trailers I’ve ever seen. The beauty is, the movie’s even better

Familiar Anxieties

Most found footage films, think along the lines of The Blair Witch Project and The Visit, are concerned with small, brutal occurrences.

In other words, we wouldn’t know the stories of the people in the film if the footage hadn’t been discovered. Josh Larsen, in his book Fear Not!: A Christian Appreciation of Horror, notes that found footage films reveal within us a fear of darkness and uncertainty.

In a way, watching these films is like shining a light on what we previously did not know, a story only the footage could reveal to us. And what we find is often frightening.

 Cloverfield is different.

It captures an experience, but one that is shared by hundreds of thousands of individuals in New York City, and the film uses this feeling of a shared experience to its advantage.

Instead of an isolated attack or strange hostile phenomenon caught on camera, Cloverfield taps into the anxieties of a recent post-9/11 world (director Matt Reeves confirms footage from 9/11 was viewed in pre production) to trigger the thought: “I could have been there.”

There is a monster, yes, but what makes Cloverfield so frightening is the feeling that this is actually possible.

What Was That?

Another thing the film utilizes well is the use of sound and limited visuals.

When Reeves saw The Exorcist with his father in 1973, he used his ears more than his eyes, because at some point he just shut his eyes and refused to open them. The result was one of the most frightening experiences of his life. Reeves comments that he uses disturbing audio in his films as a sort of traumatic release, and Cloverfield is no different.

Reeves also masterfully combines his sound design with limited visuals in order to make what’s happening on screen indecipherable yet frightening.

Once again utilizing footage from pre-production research, this time of a bombing on an American base in Iraq in which you can only see a boot but can hear the bombs getting closer, Reeves litters the film with darkness, overexposure, and objects blocking the camera.

That Got Their Attention

As mentioned before, the trailer for this film is phenomenal. At the time, audiences were scared out of their wits and incredibly intrigued. They had to know what it was about.

As the film’s release date neared, Paramount and the Cloverfield team up their own game. They created websites, people, advertisements, and companies and sprinkled little tidbits of information throughout for people to find.

The result is a series of three films saturated with theories and easter eggs. None of the films are directly related to each other, but each serves as a piece in a larger, intricate puzzle.

The conspiracy that surrounds the films makes them even more disturbing. We watch a monster destroy a city and we don’t know why. What’s more enticing than that?

Today’s Scene

Here are some selections from our staff for what you should watch this weekend.

Stop the endless Netflix scroll and let us pick for you.

Christian’s Pick

PAPER MOON - on MAX

I know what your thinking….

“Christian, you're trying to get me to watch a black and white movie from the 70s, I would much rather stare into the dark oblivion of my phone for 2 hours.”

Here’s the deal I had been putting off watching this film for years and finally pulled the trigger a month ago. I very much regret that it took me so long to have this movie in my life.

Im not going to give you any of the plots, as I knew nothing.

All I’ll tell you is that it’s one of the best comedies ever made and has a car chase scene near the end of the film that would rival some of today’s best action movies.

WATCH NOW

Tyler’s Pick

THE VOICES - on Prime Video

From Persepolis director Marjane Satrapi comes a dark comedy about a schizophrenic man who keeps “accidentally” killing people. Starring Ryan Reynolds (back when he cared) as the protagonist, Jerry, and also voicing the angel and devil on his shoulder anthropomorphized as his pet cat and dog.

It’s very funny, deeply uncomfortable, incredibly colorful, and wonderfully idiosyncratic!

A must-watch for any and all kitschy genre nerds like myself.

WATCH NOW

Tom’s Pick

DEAD MAN - on MAX

Johnny Depp plays a timid accountant on the run from the law in the woods of Western America.

He encounters Nobody, a mysterious Native American who guides him through a journey of spiritual proportions.

Plus, the score is by Neil Young.

WATCH NOW

Caleb’s Pick

HOOK - On Netflix

The haters will say that this is one of Spielbergs worst and the haters are wrong. This movie is fun charming and full of magic.

What’s not to like?

WATCH NOW

Here is some of the latest news that we found interesting…