Monster crunch

Widely seen as a post-9/11 movie, Cloverfield isn't the first thriller to have a monster as metaphor, says Phelim O'Neill...

When we actually get a clearer look at it, the most surprising thing about Cloverfield's beast is that it doesn't have a beard or turban. The sight of shellshocked survivors making their way through aftermath of the attack of the "Osamasaurus" - it's never named - leave the viewer in no doubt of its true inspiration. But then horror, fantasy and sci-fi movies have always had fun with their subtext. Communism manifested itself on screen in the form of Martians - from the red planet, of course - the giant creepy crawlies of Them!, Tarantula and, later, Starship Troopers. The sleazy mayor's coverup of the shark attacks in Jaws echoes Watergate, while Lord Of The Rings rails against unchecked industrialism and the horrors of the first world war. Oversized monster movies - a genre the Japanese know as Kaiju - write their metaphors larger and clearer than anyone else. There is nothing sub about the text of these movies.

  1. Cloverfield
  2. Production year: 2008
  3. Country: USA
  4. Cert (UK): 15
  5. Runtime: 84 mins
  6. Directors: Matt Reeves
  7. Cast: Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, Michael Stahl-David, Michael-Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, TJ Miller
  8. More on this film

The Host

Even the smallest monster on this list is still bigger than the combined mass of acting "heavyweights" Orson Welles, Marlon Brando and John Candy. The family-level, anti-pollution eco message the film delivers is more poignant than a thousand coulda-been- a-contenders.

King Kong

The first monster superstar. A metaphor for the unknown, supposedly savage corners of the world, he's a lover and a fighter who has outlived all his original, puny human co stars.


Despite a succession of increasingly silly sequels, towering radioactive lizard Godzilla provided a thrilling and cathartic way for the Japanese to face the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.


Kim Jong-Il kidnapped a South Korean director and forced him to make this film to show the world that capitalism - in the form of a metal-munching beast - was a bigger monster than he was. Not sure that that was the right way to go about it.


The 9/11 monster. Decapitating the statue of liberty seals his freedom-hating credentials. Its unprovoked attack and mass destruction of property are clearly bad things, but its penchant for going after good looking people is something we can all get behind.

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