J.J. Abrams has described “10 Cloverfield Lane,” the latest spoiler-proofed release from his ever-busy, ever-secretive production outfit, as being like a “blood relative” to “Cloverfield,” the company’s inspired 2008 riff on Japanese monster movies. It’s a family resemblance that proves to be pretty vague in some ways, but the fainter brand imprints are really this claustrophobic thriller’s strong suit. As it is, some solid jolts from Abrams recruit Dan Trachtenberg, the film’s rookie director, are slightly undercut by how primed we are to have our viewing experience upended.
“Lane” forgoes its predecessor’s found-footage approach, instead more conventionally introducing Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as a New Orleans woman leaving home in a hurry — not to get away from any monster but because of some enigmatic relationship issue. Then, just as “Cloverfield” jarringly shifted from urban 20-something drama to “Godzilla territory,” this one plunges Michelle into abduction hell, as she wakes from an accident to find herself shackled in a cinderblock bunker.
But hey, what good luck — Howard (John Goodman), the burly kook who brought her here, gives her a key and vows not to harm her. Only, jeez, what rotten luck — Howard and better-adjusted bunker dweller Emmett (John Gallagher Jr., of HBO’s “The Newsroom”) inform her that there’s been some mysterious, catastrophic attack above ground. Howard can’t decide whether it was Russkies (!) or Martians (!!), but there’s nowhere left for the three of them to go, that’s for sure. Or is it?
Winstead makes a capable surrogate for taking in and reacting to the dribs and drabs of dubious information the story provides. The character is perhaps a tad too resourceful — it’s quite the leap from aspiring fashion designer to doomsday-gear do-it-yourselfer — but Winstead mostly keeps things grounded, and you’ll wish there was more of her conspiratorial interplay with Gallagher.
Goodman, meanwhile, plays crackpot gamely, even if he only sporadically vanishes into his character. It’s as if he and the filmmakers were aiming for Michael Shannon’s unnerving fixation cases in “Bug” and “Take Shelter,” but hit something closer to Kathy Bates’s loopiness in “Misery.” Maybe it’s Goodman’s baggage from playing gonzo for the Coen brothers. Or maybe it’s the movie’s deliberately arch touches, like the “Home Sweet Home” throw pillow in Howard’s subterranean hideaway, or the jukebox stocked with ’60s bubblegum hits like “I Think We’re Alone Now.” “Room” it isn’t.
★ ★ ½
10 CLOVERFIELD LANE
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg. Written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr.. Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs, and Jordan’s IMAX in Reading and Natick. 105 minutes. PG-13 (thematic material including frightening sequences of threat with some violence, and brief language).