10 Cloverfield Lane is a physiological thriller that employs vivid character development and surreal images. Tense scenes worry viewers, fast accelerating violence startles them, and the fear instilled by this film makes it a true thriller. The independent and ingenuitive main character Michelle, played by Mary Winstead, leaves her life behind after a fight with her fiancee, and after filling up he car at a gas station, she is injured in a severe car crash. When Michelle awakes she is placed into a high stress nightmare that pushes her will to survive and tests he ability to think on her feet. Michelle is confined in an underground bunker with two other survivors, one, Howard Stambler, played by John Goodman, a doomsday prepper, who claims that the outside air is poisonous and that there are no other survivors. Friendly and humorous Emmett DeWitt, played by John Gallagher Jr., the other member of the group who helped Goodman build the bunker, at first trusts Howard and is quickly befriended by Michelle.

Even though the bunker has many of the comforts of life, after several intense confrontations with Goodman’s controlling and violent nature, Michelle and Emmett decide they need to escape. Howard and his twisted truths, secret motives, and paranoia drive Emmett and Michelle’s creativity to survive. During several normal encounters with Howard, Emmett and Michelle’s secret actions and some dramatic irony cause multiple intense situations that fizzle out only to scare you again. The film’s intense images and content develop a truly terrifying atmosphere. Michelle uses her quick wit and ingenuity to survive the insanity of the apocalypse. Dan Trachtenberg, the director of 10 Cloverfield lane, perfectly frames the suspense of being in a room with a maniac and only one escape. Even though 10 Cloverfield lane was Trachtenberg’s first major film, it was expertly executed and delivered everything people want from a suspenseful film. 10 Cloverfield lane is great film for those who enjoy suspense, and in some what Hitchcock manner, the film pulls you into the action and makes you ask yourself, how would I handle that?