Clover is the production name given to the giant, fictional monster that appears in the 2008 film Cloverfield . The creature was originally conceived by producer J. J. Abrams and was designed by artist Neville Page. In the film, the monster is never named; the name "Cloverfield" is only given to the US Department of Defense case file of the incidents depicted in the movie. The Department of Defense names the creature "LSA" for Large-Scale Aggressor in the movie's Blu-ray special feature called "Cloverfield Special Investigation Mode". The name Clover was the nickname affectionately given to the monster among the production staff.
Appearances
The monster was first referred to in the viral marketing campaign for the 2008 film, including a recording of its roar, foreign news clips about a monster attack and sonar images.
The monster appears in a four-part manga series Cloverfield/Kishin by Yoshiki Togawa, which serves as a spin-off to the film. The monster made a first full appearance in Cloverfield , where it was seen rampaging through New York City and being attacked by the United States military.
Concept and creation
J.J. Abrams conceived of a new monster after he and his son visited a toy store in Japan while promoting Mission: Impossible III . He explained, "We saw all these Godzilla toys, and I thought, we need our own monster, and not like King Kong. I love King Kong. King Kong is adorable. And Godzilla is a charming monster. We love Godzilla. But I wanted something that was just insane and intense".
The monster was designed by artist Neville Page. He sought a biological rationale for the creature, though many of his ideas would not show up on screen. Page designed the creature as immature and suffering from "separation anxiety". He compared the creature to a rampaging elephant, saying "there's nothing scarier than something huge that's spooked". Page said of the creature's backstory, "For me, one of the most key moments in our collective brainstorming was the choice to make the creature be something that we would empathize with. It is not out there just killing. It is confused, lost, scared. It's a newborn. Having this be a story point (one that the audience does not know), it allowed for some purposeful choices about its anatomy, movement and, yes, motivations". The creature was developed by visual effects supervisor Kevin Blank and Phil Tippett's company Tippett Studio. Blank described the intended goal of the creature, "Rather than the monster having a personality , it's more of an entity or an event".
Goddard pointed out the lack of explanation in the film of the creature's origin was deliberate. Despite this in the final moments of the film, after the explosion and just before the credits, the characters Beth and Rob are talking while on an amusement ride. The camera is pointed out the window at a section of beach and ocean as a distant object can be seen coming in from the upper right of the picture. Very small, it splashes into the water just to the left of the yacht in that scene. The date, April 27, 6:17 p.m., is prior to the monster's attack on the city. As part of the viral marketing campaign, it is explained that the splash is made by a satellite crashing into the ocean.
Reeves described the creature's reaction to its surroundings thus: "It’s this new environment that it finds frightening". To indicate this, Reeves suggested the addition of white in the creature's eyes so it would look similar to a horse who is spooked. The filmmakers generated and used the idea of parasites because the film could not realistically have scenes between the human protagonists and the enormous creature.
Creature design
Although "just a baby", the creature is 30 stories tall, and weighs around 6,400 tons. Clover is quite resilient, able to resist every attack the military throws at it. At the end of the movie, Manhattan is destroyed in an attempt to kill it.
Clover's design includes appendages on its underbelly, described by Neville Page as an "elongated, and articulated external esophagus with the business end terminating in teethlike fingers". They were designed as a body part to relate the scale of human prey to the huge scale of the creature. The scenes from the film where Clover sucked people into these feeding tubes were cut from the final edit, but the fourth and final chapter of Cloverfield/Kishin shows how they work. The monster also features two protrusions in the back sides of its head, seen to inflate when it examines Hud near the end of the film.
Clover is covered with parasites, which it sheds as part of a "post-birth ritual". Abrams described the parasites as "horrifying, dog-sized creatures that just scatter around the city and add to the nightmare of the evening". Reeves added that "The parasites have a voracious, rabid, bounding nature, but they also have a crab-like crawl. They have the viciousness of a dog, but with the ability to climb walls and stick to objects". The parasites fall off Clover and begin to attack people. The parasite's jaw is unique in that the top half of the head is the mandible, moving up from the lower jaw to open, as opposed to the reverse with almost all terrestrial animals. The top and lower jaws end in serrated edges and also have four pairs of eyes each. The rest of the parasite is comprised of a crustacean-like carapace, several pairs of claws, and arms. A deep blue-purple muscular membrane stretches between the top and lower jaws. When a human is bitten, the victim becomes ill and bleeds profusely, mainly from the eyes, and shortly after this, the torso expands and explodes. They are called HSPs (Human Scale Parasites) on the Blu-ray Special Investigation Mode.
Artist Neville Page, in response to claims that the design of the creature was similar to that of the 2006 South Korean film The Host , said, "They are in that they ravage and seem to originate from the water, but the end results are quite different. However, when I finally saw some of the concept art, there were some very obvious similarities. But then again, I think that we were both channeling similar biological possibilities".
The final two chapters of Cloverfield/Kishin offer more biological information regarding the creature. In this, it is revealed that the creature somehow gains strength and intellect through a biological orb that the characters call the "Splinter of Amnion"; the cult's name for it is "God's Vestige", as they are known to worship the creature. This orb can be inserted into a human being or possibly into the monster itself. The orb is activated by negative emotions such as rage or despair, and can grant the human in possession of it control over the monster's parasites, as long as they still harbor those emotions. Conversely, positive emotions such as love, hope and happiness can hamper its performance as seen with Kishin's case, which explains why the monster was shocked to see that he no longer harbored despair and rage when it attempted to absorb the Splinter of Amnion on its own; the reason why it only feeds on negative emotions is left unexplained. When the monster retreated to the sea bed of Japan, it returns to a series of massive eggs akin to a nest where it goes into deep slumber, implying that there are many more members of its species.
Merchandise
Based on the success of Cloverfield , which earned over $40 million over its opening weekend in the United States and Canadian box office, the toy company Hasbro began accepting orders for a 14-inch limited edition toy figure of Clover to be shipped to fans starting December 24, 2008. It also comes with several accessories, including the disembodied head of the Statue of Liberty, two changeable heads (one with an open mouth, one with a closed mouth), and 10 static figures of the monster's parasites.
Critical analysis
Reviewing the film Cloverfield , the San Jose Mercury News described the creature as "a monster for the MySpace generation". Reviewer James Berardinelli noted, "The movie follows the Jaws rule that monsters are usually more intimidating when they are shown infrequently and only in brief glimpses". Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle described the creature as retaining "an air of mystery—a monstrous je ne sais quoi that makes him all the freakier." Richard Corliss of Time complained of the recycled elements of the creature, such as its emergence mimicking the original Godzilla film and its parasites being similar to the "toy meanies" from the 1984 film Gremlins .
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times expressed his acceptance of the lack of explanation for the creature's origin, saying, "Which is all right with me after the tiresome opening speeches in so many of the 30 or more Godzilla films". Peter Howell of the Toronto Star thought that the "main" creature was disappointing, while he considered the "mutant spider crabs" that came from it as "way scarier". Lawrence Person of Locus Online describes it as "like a cross between a truly giant mantis and Johnny the Skeletal Torso." Todd McCarthy of Variety found that the creature was more reassuring as it appeared more in the film, explaining, "Its very nature as a walking, stalking being suggests it can s
2.0 Layouts, Myspace 2.0 Layouts, Myspace Layouts, Myspace Comments ...
MySpace Comments, MySpace Graphics, MySpace Picture Codes, MySpace Image Codes, MySpace Video Codes and more! ... Funny Dance Clips; Upload Photos; Upload Videos
TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting
... upload, link and share your images and videos on MySpace®, eBay®, blogs and message boards. No account required, upload ... Featured Categories More »
How to Write a Picture Book That Shines Video by Children's Book ...
Watch it on MySpace Videos. ... My Videos ▲ Upload ▲ Record ▲ ... cbiclubhouse.com To make your picture book manuscript stand out from the crowd, you need to do more ...
HEARTBREAKER - MySpace Layouts, Summer Layouts, Default Layouts ...
Contact Tables Music Skins About Me Headers Icons and Pixels Picture Captions Upload Photos More Page Graphics ... Here at heartbreaker, we offer the best myspace layouts, comment boxes, ...
Kat Von D's My Photos Photo Album - MySpace Photos
More on MySpace; Apps Gallery; Events; Forums; Groups; Local; MySpaceID Sites; Schools ... Upload Photos ▲ Back to Profile ▲ Back to Albums
Myspace Image Codes
Simply click the browse button on the Myspace Picture Upload Program to ... This is a great way to share more of your pictures with friends and others on Myspace.
YouTube - For Myspace Picture Comments
... Upload ... For Myspace Picture Comments ... Show More Comments
Myspace Album Covers - MYSPACELYTS.NET (Skinny Layouts, Default ...
Myspace Picture Album Covers Directions: To use this, save them on your computer and upload them to your myspace pictures. ... Downloads, Resources, and More.
YouTube - SteezylucK Myspace Picture Comment Video
... Upload ... FOR MYSPACE PICTURE COMMENTS! Post this video on your friends sexy ... Show More Comments
Bret Michaels's Injuries From the Incident @ The Tony Awards Photo ...
More on MySpace; Apps Gallery; Events; Forums; Groups; Local; MySpaceID Sites; Schools ... Upload Photos ▲ Back to Profile ▲ Back to Albums