* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Creator/MichaelGiacchino's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4AGGmNrfSM Roar! (Cloverfield Overture)]]." Basically, a ten-minute suite of what the music for this movie would have been, had there been a score, and done {{in the style of}} ''Film/{{Gojira}}'' composer Akira Ifukube.
* BetterOnDVD: Even if the shaky-cam style of the film didn't make some theater-goers queasy, the fact that a DVD that you can pause or rewind at will greatly enhances the idea that you're viewing a tape found in the wreckage that's been kept in some government archive.
* DirectorDisplacement: No, Creator/JJAbrams '''did NOT''' direct ''Cloverfield''. That goes to Creator/MattReeves. Abrams' brand is so well-known and associated with similar projects that Reeves is rarely given his credit for directing the film.
* EpilepticTrees: [[WMG/{{Cloverfield}} Plenty]], and those are only the tip of the iceberg. The AlternateRealityGame tied into the film lead to ''many'' more of them, most of which were {{Jossed}}.
* FanNickname: The monster has been given many nicknames, including Clovie, Clover, MGP, and [[TooDumbToLive Darwin]].
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
** Hud and Marlena sharing a moment together after escaping the subway tunnel when she's bitten by a parasite. Sadly, it doesn't last.
** Some of Rob and Beth's interactions, particularly the {{Happy Flashback}}s spliced into the footage.
** The scene after Marlena's death, where one of the soldiers takes pity on the group. He points them in the direction of Beth's place, warning them about Hammerdown and when the last chopper leaves as they go. It contrasts with the borderline-brutal professionalism shown to the group by the other soldiers, and is a subtle example of TheApocalypseBringsOutTheBestInPeople.
* HesJustHiding:
** An alternate ending suggests that [[spoiler: Beth and possibly Rob too survived the Hammerdown bombing]], showing that it is plausible.
** [[spoiler: Jason]] seemingly dies when Clover's tail smashes through Brooklyn Bridge. The other characters assume he died, due to being far away from him at the time, but [[NeverFoundTheBody his body is never seen]].
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Prior to the release of the film, the monster was speculated to be none other than Franchise/{{Godzilla}} himself. Eight years later, ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' would run with ''Cloverfield''[='=]s premise and filming style.
** Director Matt Reeves would later direct ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'', a film in a franchise that is, like ''Cloverfield'', arguably best known for a shot of a destroyed Statue of Liberty.
* IAmNotShazam: None of the characters are named Cloverfield, not even the monster (though the filmmakers nicknamed it "Clover"). Cloverfield was the designation the government gave to the videotape that was in the camera throughout the film. A pseudo-explanation for the name is that the monster leaves clover-shaped footprints, and so its rampage through the city left the area looking like a field of clovers.
* JustHereForGodzilla: Plenty of people went to the movie just to see what the monster looked like (as it was completely absent from the marketing).
* LesYay: Lily and Marlena are quite touchy with each other at times.
* MemeticMutation: Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse fans flocked to the comments sections of this movie in droves in 2018, thanks to the scene where a character says "[[ItWasHisSled I don't feel so good]]" moments before dying.
* {{Narm}}:
** The [[spoiler:parasites]] sound rather like an angry WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck.
** The electronics store scene racks up its far share of these moments:
*** Out of all the things they could have chosen to be playing on the [=TVs=], they chose ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' for several of them.
*** Hud's line "It's time to leave the electronics store" has incited a few chuckles from fans.
*** As they're moving to leave, Hud turns the camera on some looters, who are just standing idly as if waiting for direction.
** The shot where [[spoiler:Marlena explodes]]. Most of the film's CGI ranges from "pretty good" to "really great", and then there's a shameless ShadowDiscretionShot in the middle of it.
** The fact that every instance in which [[{{Bowdlerize}} an exclamation of "fuck" would have been more appropriate]] is replaced with the [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating PG-13-friendly]] [[GoshDarnItToHeck "OH GOD!"]]
* OlderThanTheyThink: Aside from having non-military/scientist types being the main characters in a monster movie, there's the parasites: Godzilla had lethal 5ft sea lice called ''Shokilas'' way back in 1984.
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** TJ Miller made his film debut as Hud and, despite spending most of it behind the camera, his voice will be recognisable to any ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' fan.
** Lizzy Caplan was known for ''Film/MeanGirls'', but she'd appear in other notable projects such as ''Series/TrueBlood'', ''Series/MastersOfSex'' and ''Film/NowYouSeeMe2''. ''Mean Girls'' itself would become even more of a CultClassic in TheNewTens.
* RewatchBonus: If you rewatch the movie with the knowledge that the monster is a NonMaliciousMonster (not to mention all the other stuff from the ARG and WordOfGod) then the movie will make a ''lot'' more sense for you.
* SignatureScene:
** No shot is more indicative of ''Cloverfield'' than the Statue of Liberty's decapitated head being chucked into the streets of Manhattan.
** Directly behind it would be Hud's face to face encounter with the monster in the closing minutes of the film, followed by a Point of View shot of Clover angrily glaring down at him.
* SpiritualAdaptation: JJ Abrams has admitted that ''Cloverfield'' was his attempt at an American version of ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXc7hpMgofQ This video]] by Up The Depths describes the film as an Americanized version of [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original 1954 movie]] for its portrayal of the monster and weaving a political metaphor into the story (nuclear weapons in ''Gozilla'', terrorism in ''Cloverfield'').
* ToughActToFollow: Why the sequel was in DevelopmentHell for so long.
* UglyCute:
** Look up Cloverfield on ''Website/DeviantArt'', and see how many pictures people draw of chibi/baby Clovie.
** The films plays out very differently when you keep in mind that Clovie isn't evil or a horrible agent of destruction. According to creature designer Neville Page, he's more like a lost puppy.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film looks modern enough but the fact that it's being filmed on a camcorder that still uses tape places it to the late 2000s before most home cameras would use SD cards instead. The characters use the 2000s flip phones, and only use them for calling, with no mention of the internet at all; they have to crowd around a TV to get information on the news about what's happening, and use a subway map to get to Beth's house. Superficially, there are also several swooping fringe haircuts on the boys at Rob's party, instantly placing the setting to the late 2000s.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Hud is meant to be the bumbling but ultimately well-meaning best friend of our hero Jason, as well as the comedic center of the film. Trouble is Hud is a selfish nitwit and, frankly, kind of a dick. This is best shown during the scene in the subway tunnel where Hud rather bizarrely keeps recanting a story about a SerialKiller that set homeless people on fire. At the same time that a monster is violently destroying New York City just above ground, which has left our heroes traumatized and stressed beyond belief. Then when his friends understandably don't want to hear any more, he continues on like it's all a big joke.
* VocalMinority: While the movie developed a sizable hatedom on the internet for the JitterCam, it was actually critically acclaimed and extremely profitable.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: The film may look like another Godzilla-style film (Discounting the original, 1954 version which is even darker in tone), but it isn't for kids, unless they like blood-sucking parasites [[spoiler:whose bite eventually causes the victim to explode]], subplots about unfaithfulness, wreckage evocative of 9/11, a woman impaled on a metal spike, the monster eating [[spoiler:Hud the cameraman]], and [[spoiler:all of New York being bombed, with no survivors]].
* TheWoobie: All of the protagonists are basically this. Hell even the monster Clover from its perspective can be considered this.
----