Cloverfield

A gigantic creature of unknown origin pulverises its way through Manhattan in this YouTube-style monster mash-up co-produced by Lost creator JJ Abrams. There are clever dashes of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and The Host, but the characters - partygoers filming a going-away do - lack emotional depth and stumble a little too carelessly into danger. The interesting gimmick here is the intimate approach to epic disaster provided by the action unfolding via an amateur camcorder. The found-footage technique often creates a gripping, up-close-and-personal portrait of events, and the shaky-cam terrors meld effectively with loud bangs and glimpses of the HP Lovecraft-inspired behemoth. The fearful wonderment generated by such exciting mayhem is palpable as the documentary approach adds enormous resonance to what is essentially a fun repackaging of one of those stop-motion Ray Harryhausen fantasies from the 1950s and 60s.