Movie In-Jokes: Cloverfield

One of the fun games when watching movies is to spot references, secret messages and gags that filmmakers, film crews and actors can slip into movies to pay tribute to films they love, have a bit of fun with their previous work, or give the cinematic equivalent of a shout-out. Here's a spotter's guide to these inside jokes.

This time out we investigate the subliminal monsters creeping between the frames of the found-footage monster flick Cloverfield.

Cloverfield was an early instance of the found-footage genre branching out of horror. The high level of secrecy put on the film drove curiosity for what it was through the roof and solidified J.J. Abrams' reputation as a guy who likes to keep plot elements close to the chest.

In reality, it just offered a unique perspective on the usual monster-on-the-rampage tale, starring this cute fella...

But upon seeing it the first time, I noticed a strange note in the credits...

Being a huge monster movie fan, I had no recollection of seeing anything of Kong, the Beast, or the giant ants from Them anywhere in the movie. It wasn't until home video that these classic creatures were discovered.

Being comprised of footage supposedly taken with a camcorder recorded onto a previously-used tape, there are occasional breaks in the action to flash back on earlier events recorded featuring some of the film's characters. During these breaks there are quick bursts of static. Looking through them frame-by-frame, around the 24:08 mark, you can see...

Then at 45:29, there's...

And finally, the Eighth Wonder of the World makes his presence known at 1:06:55...

Nice to see some of Clovie's ancestors popping up in his home movies. I'm sure if the venerable Japanese studio Toho weren't so protective of their number one monster, we'd have seen Godzilla make an appearance as well.