Since 2008, The Cloverfield franchise has introduced moviegoers to a multiverse of stories
in which just about anything can happen. With that in mind, let's dive into the three films
and follow its unexpected timeline from the crowded streets of New York City to the endless
expanse of space.
Rob Hawkins and Beth McIntyre wake up in Beth's father's apartment in New York on the morning
of April 27, 2008. Rob, with his camcorder on, teases Beth because she's never been to
Coney Island and they decide to take a trip there that same day.
Since the video that documents the events of Cloverfield is recording over Rob's tape
from the Coney Island date, the audience sees glimpses of it throughout the film. At the
end of the movie, we see footage of Rob and Beth on a Ferris wheel. Upon close inspection,
you can see an object crashing into the ocean as Rob films, but neither of them seem to
notice.
Some people assume that this object is the film's monster, or something containing the
monster. However, other fans theorize that it's a portion of a satellite that agitates
the hibernating beast.
A little less than a month after the Coney Island trip, on May 22, Rob and Beth are on
the rocks and Rob is preparing to leave New York City to take a new job in Japan. His
brother, Jason, throws a going away party for him, and Rob's friend Hud begins filming
farewell messages from the guests, unknowingly taping over the Coney Island date. Hud's recording
of that night makes up the bulk of Cloverfield.
Early in the film, Hud captures Rob and Beth arguing after she brings a new man to the
party. Beth angrily leaves and heads back to her apartment.
Suddenly, as Rob's brother is trying to cheer him up, the building is rocked by what seems
to be an earthquake.
"Forget the world and hang on to the people that you care about the most."
"Oh, god. Oh, jesus. Oh, my god. What the hell was that?"
After a brief power outage the partygoers turn on the news and learn that an oil tanker
has capsized near the East Coast. As the guests make their way downstairs, the head of the
Statue of Liberty flies through the air and skids to a stop on the street. Panic ensues
as a giant monster makes its way through the city, destroying everything in its path. To
make matters even worse, smaller creatures are detaching from the monster and attacking
anyone within striking distance.
Rob receives a message from Beth, who says that she's trapped in her apartment building.
He decides to venture across Manhattan to rescue her. For better or worse, his friends
Lily, Marlena, and Hud, who is still behind the camera, come along to help.
After 3 AM, now on May 23rd, they get caught in the crossfire of the military and the monster.
Scrambling for safety, they eventually escape into the subway, where the creatures that
detached from the monster attack them. One of them viciously bites Marlena. They barely
escape the subway and emerge into a shopping center that's been converted into a makeshift
field hospital. By this point, Marlena is looking pretty rough and states the obvious.
"I don't feel so good."
It doesn't take long for staff in hazmat suits to hustle her into a medical tent where her
body explodes.
Rob, still focused on saving Beth, persuades the military to let him leave but he's warned
that the government will begin bombing the city at 6 AM to kill the monster. Rob, Lily,
and Hud ultimately find Beth and make it to evacuating helicopters and they all lived
happily ever after.
Not really. After Lily's helicopter takes off, the one carrying Rob, Beth, and Hud crashes
when the beast attacks it. Hud is killed by the monster, and with no time left to escape,
Rob and Beth huddle under a Central Park archway. The doomed couple films their goodbyes while
bombs fall on the city.
As the film ends, a whispered voice says "Help us," suggesting Rob and Beth may have survived.
When played backwards, the same voice says "It's still alive," hinting that the creature
also survived.
Before the events of 10 Cloverfield Lane, Howard Stambler hires a local man, Emmett
DeWitt, to help him build a bunker under his farmhouse in rural Louisiana.
The film never gives a definitive year but around 2014, a young girl named Brittany goes
missing. A couple years later, Emmett and a woman named Michelle, who we'll learn more
about soon, piece together that Howard actually abducted Brittany and forced her to live in
the bunker. This is made clear when Michelle finds the world "HELP" scratched into a skylight.
At some point, Howard killed Brittany, presumably because she was attempting to escape.
This brings us to the harrowing story of Michelle. After a bad breakup, she leaves New Orleans
and is driving near Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she's in a car accident. She later wakes
up in the underground bunker of an extremely strange man.
"My name is Howard, by the way."
Howard informs Michelle that there's been an attack of some kind, which has contaminated
the air and is preventing them from leaving the shelter. She soon meets Emmett, who also
witnessed some version of the attack before heading for the bunker, and the two share
suspicions about Howard.
Weeks pass, and the trio seems to relax into some sense of normality, despite Howard's
angry demeanor and paranoia. Everything changes when Michelle crawls into the ventilation
system and discovers Brittany's "help" message. Together she and Emmett make a plan to escape
the bunker by constructing hazmat suits out of anything they can find. Howard ultimately
discovers that Emmett took a pair of scissors as part of this effort and threatens both
of them with a barrel of perchloric acid. Emmett quickly claims that he was the only
one stealing things and apologizes. Unfortunately, Howard hasn't really mastered the art of conflict
resolution.
"I accept your apology."
Desperate to escape the bunker, Michelle tries to secretly finish the hazmat suit, only to
be discovered by Howard. In the struggle to escape, Michelle kicks over the barrel of
acid towards Howard. He's badly burned and the acid reaches a lamp cord, which starts
a fire that spreads throughout the bunker. Michelle crawls through the ventilation system
and ultimately escapes to a car abandoned by Leslie, a woman who visited the bunker
earlier but was not allowed in due to lesions all over her skin. Howard is presumably killed
when the bunker explodes.
As she prepares to leave the farm, Michelle sees an alien spacecraft in the sky over the
fields. A creature detaches from ship and pursues her. She eventually takes shelter
in Howard's truck as a tentacle tries to grab her. She fights back by crafting an improvised
molotov cocktail, setting the ship on fire and causing it to fly away.
Michelle finally drives away and tunes into an emergency radio broadcast, which tells
survivors to meet in Baton Rouge. However, anyone with military or medical experience
should head to Houston to join the fight to retake the Southern seaboard from the invasion.
She turns the car around and drives toward Houston.
The Cloverfield Paradox takes place in 2028, when the Earth is rapidly running out of energy.
As fuel and electricity is rationed, people have resorted to using dangerous devices to
siphon power. The governments of the world unite for one final plan to save humanity:
The Cloverfield Station, a spacecraft built by a coalition of global agencies that will
activate the Shepard particle accelerator. If the Shepard works, it will provide Earth
with an unlimited new supply of energy. Among the scientists chosen for the mission is Ava
Hamilton, a communications officer who lost her children in a house fire caused by a device
she was using to siphon power.
There are those who are not convinced that the Shepard is the best way forward. Some
propose that activating the accelerator could trigger something dubbed "The Cloverfield
Paradox." This would open doorways to other universes, which could then lead to all manner
of terrifying alien life attacking Earth.
Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that the critic of the project on the news, Mark Stambler,
shares the same last name as Howard Stambler from 10 Cloverfield Lane. However, the films
never draw a direct connection between the two characters.
The Cloverfield team lives on the station for approximately two years, taking the mission
into 2030. They have not yet managed to achieve a stable beam in the Shepard and they are
running out of fuel for more attempts.
After many disappointments, the Shepard finally seems to work. Unfortunately, when everything
appears to be stabilizing, a power surge causes a failure of the accelerator and creates chaos
throughout the Cloverfield. As the crew tries to restore order, Hamilton realizes that she
can no longer locate Earth.
"Well, it's big, blue, full of angry people. Keep looking you'll find it."
Along with the Earth, it seems that a gyroscope essential to navigating the station has vanished.
From this point on, things become more and more bizarre. First of all, the crew discovers
a mysterious woman inside one of the station's walls, and her body has fused with the wires
of the station. The woman, Mina Jensen, makes incredible claims about the crew members,
including that she and Hamilton are close friends, despite the fact that Hamilton has
never met her before.
Shortly after this, Russian engineer Volkov dies - and spits out a clew of worms that
previously was just minding their own business, living happily in their enclosure on the ship.
Then, Irish engineer Mundy loses an arm inside a wall without any bleeding or pain. Mundy's
severed arm later reappears and seems to have a mind of its own. It drags itself along the
ground and eventually writes a message saying that the crew should cut Volkov open.
"Oh, that's creepy."
Despite the creepiness of the arm's advice, they cut open Volkov's corpse and find the
gyroscope in his chest. With the gyroscope back in place, the crew locates Earth and
learns that the Cloverfield Station apparently crashed into the ocean two days ago.
The conclusion is clear: The Cloverfield Paradox is real, and they are in an alternate dimension.
With their situation now understood, the Cloverfield scientists begin working on a solution to
return to their own dimension. The key to their plan is an algorithm developed by engineer
Tam, but repairing the station proves to be extremely dangerous.
Both Tam and Mundy are killed in the process of mending the Cloverfield and commander Kiel
sacrifices himself to eject part of the station so the rest of it will hold together.
In the film's most emotional plotline, Hamilton discovers that her children are still alive
in this version of Earth. She decides to stay in the alternate universe to keep her children
safe, despite the fact that there's another version of herself already living there.
Suddenly, Jensen violently turns on the crew. She knocks out Hamilton, fatally shoots the
station doctor Monk, and wounds the German engineer Schmidt.
After Hamilton wakes up, Jensen explains that she can't allow the station to leave because
she needs the Shepard to save her version of the world. The two begin a fight to the
death that ultimately ends when Jensen is sucked out of a broken window into space.
Hamilton then decides that she must return home to her own dimension, because the children
from this Earth are not replacements for her own.
With Jensen dead, Hamilton makes a video message for her alternate self. She warns her about
the accident that killed her own children and sends detailed plans for how to rebuild
a successful version of the Shepard, which will save her world.
Hamilton and a wounded Schmidt return the Cloverfield Station to their original dimension
and reactivate the Shepard beam. As they re-establish communication with Earth, they announce that
the accelerator is finally working properly and they head home in a capsule craft.
While all of this has been happening, Hamilton's husband Michael has been dealing with some
serious problems on Earth. When the Shepard triggered the Cloverfield Paradox, it did
indeed open doors to other dimensions through which giant monsters arrived.
Michael begs the space agency to keep his wife on the station to avoid the carnage,
but it's too late. As the ship arrives, an unwanted visitor makes its monstrous presence
known.
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