The buzz for Cloverfield has been pretty intense. Yeah, I saw the trailer eons ago and said, “awesome!” in between compulsive views of the Dramatic Chipmunk video. My friends and I emailed for months about the movie and those of my friends who didn’t know about it yet were immediately labeled “uncool” in my head, regardless of how many years of cool they had under their belt. The marketing for this movie was genius, either you got it, or you didn’t. And if you didn’t, you’re a total dork.

We were warned by a friend not to sit too close to the screen or we’d vomit on each other. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the theater, there were barely seats together so we ended up in the third row, hard left. Our necks were craned up and sideways for the entire movie, but the good news is the movie is pretty short. The other good news is we didn’t vomit on each other.

Terrible seats aside, the movie was really enjoyable. Contrary to public opinion, this isn’t a horror movie. It’s a thriller. There’s no creepy music, no pregnant anticipation while a secondary character walks into the darkened kitchen to — JESUS CHRIST TURN AROUND IT’S RIGHT BEHIND YOU! It’s a straight-up monster movie, not unlike Godzilla, except with worse dental hygiene and meaner head lice. The first 10 minutes are a little difficult to get through as the movie clunks through some insignificant subplots and shows off the hand-held camera technique to irritating degrees. I mean, we got it already.

After staring at a fixed location for the first 10 minutes and breathing through my nose, finally some action starts to happen. If you aren’t nauseous by the time The Thing arrives, you probably won’t be. I’m not sure if this is because you get used to the unsteady camera, they don’t shake it as much, or the action keeps you distracted. But as soon as the action starts, you are riveted. It’s pretty terrifying and has a lot of 9/11-reminiscent imagery (which, for this New Yorker, was pretty freaky). The writing gets better, too. In between the running and screaming are some really clever lines, but not so clever that you get annoyed because people just don’t talk that way in real life (<cough >Juno <cough>). The movie has been likened to Blair Witch, and for good reason. Not just the similar hand-held documentary technique, but the actors are mostly unknowns to add depth to the illusion that this was a real tape. Unfortunately, like Blair Witch, these actors probably will be unknowns again in 5 years.

I really enjoyed the movie, but let’s face it… this movie was 80% marketing buzz helmed by a man who stands out as a real talent for being able to harness the web and new technology. JJ Abrams, like he did with Lost (omigodtheseasonpremiereisthursday), added little easter eggs and teasers in the marketing of the movie to amazing success. It was the number one movie last week, though it had an incredible drop-off rate this weekend. But the buzz still continues: a the end of the credits — should you stay for them all (and you should) — there is a noise that sounds like a backwards whisper. It is. Geeks who dig this type of stuff deciphered it and have it in full playback. And dude, check it out, there’s gonna be a sequel.

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The movie is fun, but it’s not great. The characters are eh, the writing is eh and the plot has been done a million and four times. But you should see it now, because, in spite of it’s weaknesses, it’s a pretty fun 74 minutes. And because in five years you’ll watch it on HBO and it will suck.

Godzilla: so five years ago.