Cloverfield (2008) ***1/2 and 10 Cloverfield Lane *****

It helps to know that “10 Cloverfield Lane” is not a sequel to “Cloverfield,” nor are the two movies directly related or even similar other than both being produced by J.J.Abrams. The word Cloverfield, in fact, has nothing to do with either movie. It's the name of a street where Abrams used to work, and the name is simply a brand, like “The Twilight Zone.” Based on these two films, I'd say it's a brand worth watching.

2008's “Cloverfield” is a found-footage movie about a monster attacking New York City. The conceit is that you are viewing a videotape found in some rubble. The footage is captured by a group of friends who are celebrating at a party when the attack hits. In the midst of the devastation, four of them (including Lizy Caplan and TJ Miller) have to make their way across Manhattan to rescue a friend. Director Matt Reeves does a pretty good job with the found-footage approach, if you can ignore the fact that TJ Miller's character is supposedly filming everything while running for his life. The monster is really cool-looking, and the film teases us with only brief, partial glimpses of it for quite a while. This is a pretty tightly-wound action movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It's well worth 3.5 stars out of 5.

“10 Cloverfield Lane” is something completely different, a claustrophobic, psychological potboiler with a cast of only three. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Michelle, a girl leaving her boyfriend in south Louisiana. As she hits the open road, she gets in a crash and wakes up in a concrete room, wearing a knee brace that is chained to the wall. She is terrified, of course, and when she meets her rescuer/captor?, Howard (John Goodman), she is not reassured by his bizarre manner. Howard is gruff and paranoid, and he eventually explains to Michelle that she is in his bomb shelter, hiding out from some sort of chemical or biological attack aboveground. The tension in the little shelter builds, as Michelle tries to figure out if Howard is a psychotic monster, or if his story of an attack is true, which of course, is even more horrifying.

This movie can best be described as “tight.” The performances, the visuals, the pacing, everything is perfectly calibrated to create dread and keep you guessing. This is one to get on DVD in case you're ever stuck on a desert island, or in a bomb shelter. 5 stars out of 5!