Cloverfield Monster Information | 1-18-08

Johnny_Butane at Dread Central has posted some exclusive information concerning the monster(s) in the upcoming 1-18-08/Cloverfield movie. He apparently has a reliable source that's "in the know." I guess we'll have to wait and see just how knowledgeable this guy is.

Perhaps you've heard some of the rampant speculation regarding a certain JJ Abrams-produced film currently known only as Cloverfield or 1-18-08 that's taken the World Wide Web by storm ever since its trailer premiered before The Transformers? I've seen everything online from it being a new Godzilla movie to being about a giant jellyfish created from soft drink sludge to a live action Voltron flick to it being a big screen version of the video game Rampage and so on...

Someone I know to be "in the know" was willing to throw me a bone with some small but interesting tidbits about the mysterious monster movie under the condition of absolute anonymity. With that in mind, let's just call this particular person "Mr. Slusho". Let me preface this by saying I have no way of confirming any of this info, though I've no reason to believe "Mr. Slusho" would feed me false information on purpose.

Anyway, here's what I've been told.

It's not Godzilla or Voltron (duh) or even Cthulu; anyone expecting there to be some sort of elaborately detailed backstory may be in for a disappointment. Expect an old-fashioned monster movie retold in a very modern Blair Witch sort of way - but with a twist. You see...

For the entire article and some possible spoilers, click this link. There are no pictures, just a vague description which still leaves room for the imagination to run wild.

UPDATE: Thank goodness it's not true! For those that didn't want to be spoiled, worry not. You can now read the article by Dread Central. According to Slashfilm (thanks for the heads-up, Dennis), "Mr. Slusho" was wrong and there will be no small raptor-like creatures ravaging New York City. Although I figured JJ Abrams and company could pull it off, it felt too much like the latest Godzilla flop.

Cloverfield – A Viral Marketer’s Look

New York Magazine’s Conner Kilpatrick interviewed Ian Schafer, CEO of marketing firm Deep Focus, to find out what he thinks about JJ Abram’s latest viral campaign.

"In my opinion, this Slusho thing is not that integral to the plot. People are throwing red herrings out there." A professional herring slinger himself, Schafer weighed in on some of the more popular Cloverfield theories making the rounds.

The Four Horsemen Theory: A Hello Kitty–esque horse appears on the Slusho Website and more than a few fanboys have spotted a horselike creature in the trailer. "I think it's possible," Schafer says. "I remember hearing a while ago that this is an end-of-the-world kind of thing, where something was sent from faraway to basically have Armageddon. Maybe Slusho is the first of four Websites with a horse on it? Maybe that's a clue. The four horsemen ride in, and it rains fire and brimstone and all that kind of stuff."

The Sea Monster Theory: The Slusho Website contains a cryptic bit of company history involving a girl who, because she drinks so much of the beverage, is called the "Smallest Whale." The roar in the trailer even sounds something like a whale song. "One of the [theories] is that [the monster is a] giant amphibian. A gigantic animal woken from its slumber under the sea. Some kind of alien that was planted here," Schafer says.

The Global Warming Theory: The Slusho Website says the drink's secret ingredient comes from deep within the ocean and must be kept freezing. Take a look at the trailer and you'll see that day's temperature in the newscast is 63 degrees — pretty hot for a New York January. Are we looking too close? Maybe not. "People are being rewarded for paying attention," speculates Schafer.

The It's-Just-a-Monster-Movie Theory: "With Cloverfield," Schafer says, "I would imagine that we're probably overestimating the amount of thought that goes into this."

I tend to agree with Mr. Schafer about Slusho and also with the “It’s just a Monster Movie theory. What do you guys think? Please leave your comments.

OVERNIGHT: Possible Title?

"Overnight" is now the subject at hand. Could this possibly be the title of our movie? Thanks to malemunyon from unfiction for this lead.

Sorry if this has been posted already; a quick search didn't yield anything. I recently stumbled upon trademark #77232885, "Overnight." It was registered to Group One Productions, LLC, and Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer on July 18, 2007, and described as "motion picture, television and music production and distribution services." The Attorney of Record for the trademark is Lori N. Boatright. She is also the Attorney of Record for "SLUSHO!," "SLUSHO! YOU CAN'T DRINK JUST SIX," and "BAD ROBOT", trademarks 77229623, 77229614, and 76340985, respectively. I googled for "GROUP ONE PRODUCTIONS, LLC," yielding nothing. The LLC, however, is registered in the State of Delaware, formed on 11-08-2006, with its registered agent being ERESIDENTAGENT, INC (search). It's just a resident agent service. Considering there's no real information on the company, I think it's just a hollow LLC, perhaps formed to conceal the real parties involved. They only own one trademark, "overnight." I then googled for "Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer." Jim Jackoway is an attorney, known to represent J.J. Abrams -- and happens to be the registrant for BadRobot.com. (whois search) What are the odds that a lawyer (Jackoway) who represents Abrams would register a trademark using the attorney of record who registered Slusho (Boatright)? Further googling shows no previous connection between Boatright and Jackoway. Is "Overnight" really the title of the film? As the trailer so eloquently stated, "this is going to be the best night ever..."

I guess we will see what happens.

New Furious and Terrifying Posters

Previously we saw the "MONSTROUS" poster. Two new posters have sprung up online. Both show the same scene from behind the decapitated Statue of Liberty, but the taglines are different. Now we have "FURIOUS" and "TERRIFYING."



Thanks to Project Cloverfield for the scoop.

My own view, as if you need to ask, is that many people have speculated about there being several monsters. We even blogged previously that there could be three monsters, each occupying either land, sea, or air. Perhaps these posters are leading us to read more into the Slusho site. "You Can't Drink Just Six."

Colossus Rumors

To update and speculate on what Spoony C reported yesterday, I've done some research of my own. Of course, we've learned (excuse us for not realizing it sooner) that Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin is indeed Colossus from The X-Men.

I have a hard time believing JJ Abrams is going to call his 1-18-08 project "Colossus." There's already a 2008 movie called "The Colossus" about the Boer War. Surely, Paramount doesn't want that kind of confusion.

Instead, I have a feeling Colossus may just be another pseudonym placed strategically on a movie poster. With nearly six months to go before this movie debuts, we might still have quite a while to wait before we really know what's going on.


On another note, the folks at Coudal Partners think they've found the answer to the monster. Honestly, I think it's quite clever. Check out their Major Spoiler Ahead post.

Not just "Monstrous"

Ain't It Cool News's Harry Knowles has an apparent update on what "Monstrous isn't the title" really means:

Hey folks, Harry here.... I'm on the 101 north of San Francisco headed for Eureka, Ca to settle in tonight - and while driving, I had a bit of a Eureka moment with a spy revealing that the below MONSTROUS poster is the first of 3 teaser posters that will lead to the TITLE reveal poster. First we'll have "MONSTROUS" - next we will have "BARBAROUS" - then we will have "FEROCIOUS" - To me - these phrases are not even spoilers - but if you're like me - if MONSTROUS is a headless Statue of Liberty - what images go with BARBAROUS and FEROCIOUS? -- The title? Well, I don't want to spoil it, so you should go ask, Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin!

I'm not sure if Rasputin is the code name for his spy, or if he's trying to give us some sort of hint toward the title with that last line. But I'm with him--I can't wait to see what pictures go with the other buzzwords.

EW Article about Monstrous

Entertainment Weekly has just published some secrets. Apparently the poster we've all seen by now is real. But, the version shown on the EW Web site lacks a title. So, was the title fake? Or was that a test by JJ to see how the fans liked it?

Check out the article while we wait for more information from Comic-Con.

JJ's Mystery Movie: Secrets Revealed

As for the monster itself, contrary to Internet speculation, it isn't a parasite, and it ain't a colossal Asian robot, either. (Some suspected Abrams was mounting a live-action version of the Japanese anime/manga classic Voltron. Nope.)

Cloverfield/Monstrous Mystery Solved?????

According to www.themovieblog.com, someone has figured the riddle that is JJ Abrams movie. It talks about the movie having 3 monsters. The first monster is Behemoth, which is an unconquerable monster of the land. Next we have Leviathan which is the primal monsters of the waters and the sea. Finally the third monster is Ziz, the primordial monster of the sky. They go onto explain that you can relate the monsters to the trailer. An earthquake relates to Behemoth, fire relates to Leviathon, and the flying Statue Of Liberty head is courtesy of Ziz. They also relate the 3 monsters to the 3 animals on slusho.jp not to mention the rest of the Web site. Say what you want it never hurts to have a theory. Here is a link to the full article.

http://www.themovieblog.com/archives/2007/07/jj_abrams_cloverfield_mystery_solved.html

What If?

We've been reading a lot lately about this movie and so far there's not a whole lot of concrete information. I've talked a lot with JTS about some theories I've been throwing around lately. One of which I'll mention here. I figure this will be something to look back at in January and say, "See guys. I told you so!" Either that, or I'll be completely wrong. Either way, feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think. Am I on to something, or am I completely insane?

My theory is that we'll never see this monster. JJ Abrams and team have built an immense publicity machine shrouded in secrecy and misdirection. It’s actually probably bigger than they had ever imagined. And now that it’s working, now that everyone is hooked, I don’t think anything is going to live up to our expectations. No physical form can live up to the hype. If all reports so far are true, we know there are survivors, and they find a video camera after this monster wreaks havoc on NYC. The hand-held, personal video camera will be our only source of information. It will be our only viewpoint.

Sure, we may get shadows or a hint of a tail or a close up of an eye, but the cameraman (check the trailer, it is a man’s voice behind the camera) will surely be in terror. And since we know there are survivors, we can assume the military presence we’ve seen in a photo at www.1-18-08.com intervenes and brings the monster down. But, what is the likelihood this one camera, filmed by this one person, will be at the center of the action as the great beast is destroyed? Slim to none.

So, there you have it. I honestly don’t think we’ll ever see the monster. I could be wrong, but it’s my theory and I’m sticking to it until proven otherwise. Now is your chance to let me know what you think. Will we see the monster, or will JJ Abrams lead moviegoers through this entire film without ever seeing the villain?

More Monstrous Clues

There are some more clues popping up that support the title "Monstrous." A quick search shows that www.themonstrousmovie.com has been owned by Paramount since June 7, 2007. The site isn't live yet, but I'd be willing to bet that it will surface Thursday during, or after, Comic-Con.

Here's the Whois entry for www.themonstrousmovie.com:

Registrant:
Paramount Pictures Corporation
5555 Melrose Avenue
MOB 3111A
Hollywood, CA 90038
US

Domain name: THEMONSTROUSMOVIE.COM

Administrative Contact:
Lester, Judson dbms-admin@verisign.com
5555 Melrose Ave
Hollywood, CA 90038
US
+1.3239563208
Technical Contact:
Lester, Judson dbms-tech@verisign.com
5555 Melrose Ave
Hollywood, CA 90038
US
+1.3239563208

Registration Service Provider:
DBMS VeriSign, dbms-support@verisign.com
800-579-2848 x4
Please contact DBMS VeriSign for domain updates, DNS/Nameserver
changes, and general domain support questions.

Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC.
Record last updated on 07-Jun-2007.
Record expires on 08-Jun-2009.
Record created on 08-Jun-2007.

Possible Relation???

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is a 1953 movie about a monster that attacks New York City. Don't know if it is reletad to 1-18-08 at all but it is interesting in a way because the monster attacks Coney Island where I believe parts of the movie are being shot. Maybe a remake???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_from_20%2C000_Fathoms

Thanks to egroh08 from www.4815162342.com for the tip.

Bloop?

I found an interesting post over at We Were The Cool Kids. It talks about the "bloop" sound found on the Slusho Web site and its connection to this whole viral campaign and H. P. Lovecraft’s short story “The Call of Cthulhu.” Several people have speculated that 1-18-08 could be a Cthulhu movie. Perhaps soon we'll find out.

To sum up: A mysterious sound believed to be made by a creature larger than the largest-known animal on Earth was discovered by scientists in 1997 in the vicinity of H.P Lovecraft's R’yleh. The sound matches that made by the monster in the Cloverfield trailer. This is more evidence supporting the Cthulhu angle.

Please note the coordinates mentioned. Any LOST fans dare to guess where 47°9′S, 123°43′W leads you? Very interesting!

The Beasts of the Sea

The Gossip Rag (interesting name) has some new info about Slusho's connection to 1-18-08.

From:
http://www.thegossiprag.com/movies/noriko-yoshida-and-slusho/

The hunt continues. Many people are asking questions about Noriko Yoshida since she is talked about extensively on the Slusho website. Additionally, the Slusho website reports that Noriko is survived by her son. This may not be all that important, but what is important is that Scramble Network reports that just yesterday a Matisse painting was posted on what is called Noriko Yoshida’s Web Page at Kobe University. The painting’s title can be translated as “The Beasts of the Sea.” This is interesting as well. It is also interesting that the Japanese URL has NY NY contained in the domain. JJ Abrams and the Paramount Cloverfield team are really throwing us for a loop!