I’ve never been a diehard ‘Blair Witch Project’ fan, so I was iffy on Cloverfield after everyone started comparing the two. I knew the whole hand-held, shaky cam thing could be an effective tool (if you don’t believe me, just watch Irreversible), but there has to be more to it than just that.

Anyway, screw all of that, Cloverfield is excellent! It’s squealingly, heart-racingly, hide-your-eyes-behind-your-fingers but peek anyway… good. The premise for the film is pretty simple - yuppie guy from Manhattan gets job offer in Tokyo and friends gather for a final farewell, with his best pal filming it all for posterity. Suddenly there’s the sound of a large explosion and everyone piles on the roof to see what’s happened.

After this, my friends, the proverbial shit hits the fan. It’s not a terrorist attack… it’s not a natural gas explosion or some other act of god… nope, it’s a … well, it’s a… hmmm… it’s a great big… I say cricket-looking… Jim says dust mite-looking (really? dust mite? that’s the best he could do??) thing that likes to eat people and hatch tons & tons of pissed off babies.

I can not begin to tell you how much better this is than Blair Witch. The hand-held cam pumps you full of adrenaline and leaves you giggling with glee (if not a little motion sick). Awesome.

I highly recommend it for horror fans.

On this day..

• A trip of three on the teeth: Lo. Lee. Ta. - 2008
• Anybody seen my jewel-encrusted handy? - 2006