MovieChat Forums > A Quiet Place (2018) Discussion > Why do American monsters always end up.....

Why do American monsters always end up...


...looking and sounding like the Cloverfield monster? I'm sort of riffing on James Rolfe's comments in response to Godzilla (2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dASbZcZ8ePE&feature=youtu.be&t=224

This isn't a problem with the movie so much as it is me wishing that American films would push the envelope just a little more when it comes to creativity. I want to, someday, witness the birth of a new unique and memorable monster in Hollywood at the level of Giger's Xenomorph or Toho's Gigan. I've grown tired of the same gray, bendy-legged, velociraptor-sounding monsters of what feels like the last two decades.

Granted, the gimmick with them being blind with super-sensitive hearing was pretty cool (a gimmick also used in The Descent (2005)). But if I were to design a monster for this story, it would be something more catlike (but still with a unique twist to separate them from our familiar cats) and stealthy - the thinking being that cats, too, have sensitive hearing and prowl around silently so they can hear their prey. Something like this with no eyes and more exaggerated ears:

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/52821880e4b0213a9156e803/52a8a46be4b0a56a2d8b919e/52a8a46ee4b02085b01a174b/1386783863303/monsterCat_CC.jpg

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The monsters looked very similar to the ones in Stranger Things too.

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I hate this too. Cloverfield had a pretty unique monster design and clearly everyone agreed. Even JJ Abrams’ own Super 8 featured a monster that looked completely identical to his earlier Cloverfield, but the two films are somehow unrelated!

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Exactly! I just typed almost the same thing in a post. :-)

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"Cloverfield" was so great! Loved it. Definitely agree on the almost ceaseless copies since. Even "Cloverfield" producer J.J. Abrams had a variation of the monster in his own "Super 8."

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My initial reaction was that they're a mix the xenomorphs of “Alien/Aliens” with the extraterrestrials of “War of the Worlds” (2005). Yes, they’re basically a knock-off of the monster in “Cloverfield," albeit the smaller size of the creatures in those previous flicks. Meanwhile the tone/location/situation of the movie is similar to "Signs."

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The FX are probably cheaper when they copy the designs for previous hit movie(s), probably able to use the programs justalter thematic so saves a bunch off the budget

similar to the 'intricate metallic moving parts' alien tech that appeared in lots of alien invasion movies after Transformers (Star Trek, CowboysAliens,Skyline etc)..

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Well, seek out German, Nigerian, Brazilian, Pakistani, Norwegian or Turkish monster films and report back to us what you find.

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