ROTTEN TOMATOES: More Cloverfield/1-18-08 Viral Marketing Madness!

More Cloverfield/1-18-08 Viral Marketing Madness!

Go go delicious chef! Slusho zoom!

by Jeff Giles | October 01, 2007

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It's been a few weeks since we've heard about any new viral marketing shenanigans from the Cloverfield camp -- but if you think J.J. Abrams and crew are done priming the pump for the upcoming monster movie, think again.

According to a pair of reports posted at Slashfilm over the weekend, a sixth photo has been found at the film's 1-18-08.com website. Behold:

As Slashfilm notes, "if you play around with the photo with your mouse, you can flip it over to reveal" another image, which turns out to be a recipe written in Japanese. If you've got some deep-sea crab lying around the house and you aren't sure how to prepare it, you might want to copy this one down. If you're looking for clues regarding its relevance to the film, Slashfilm's Peter Sciretta says "I really have no idea," before adding:

Until now all the photos appear to have come from the events to be shown in the film. The new photo offers no timecode, and offers a character we have never seen before. I do find it interesting that aside from the Slusho t-shirt seen in the trailer, this is the first real link-up with a japanese storyline which has been hinted by the Slusho.jp viral site.

Later in the weekend, Slashfilm also reported on what might be a new viral marketing site for Cloverfield -- or it might just be an elaborate prank. The site claims to represent the Tagruato Corporation, the company behind the Slusho! drink containing a "special ingredient" that figures into the film's plot.

There's too much background information to go into here, but if your interests include deep sea drilling and Japanese history, you'll have a field day at the Tagruato site. Elsewhere, the folks at Unfiction started poking around to try and determine whether this is all really part of the Cloverfield campaign, even going so far as to call the number listed for the domain's WHOIS contact.

The consensus? Eh, who knows. One thing's for sure, though -- after all this buildup, the movie had better be good.

Source: Slashfilm (photo article)
Source: Slashfilm (Tagruato article)
Source: Tagruato.jp
Source: Unfiction

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(1-19 of 19 posts) | Reply

BjornFree writes:
on Oct 01 2007 05:35 AM

Looks like a giant mutant crab is going to attack. Uh-oh!

(Reply to this)

GravitaZ writes:
on Oct 01 2007 06:29 AM

This movie is going to be a steaming pile

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Oct 01 2007 07:28 AM

even though i enjoy viral marketing (the stuff that TDK is doing is great), i think jj and his crew are taking this a little too far. just show us the damn movie already.

i feel the same way with lost. ok, you made me anticipate stuff, now give me the freaking ending.

(Reply to this)

frogleg writes:
on Oct 01 2007 09:06 AM

I disagree - all this that I've seen makes me more interested in seeing this movie than any normal trailer would have.

(Reply to this)

bob funch writes:
on Oct 01 2007 09:30 AM

Anyone put it out there yet that this is a re-imagining and re-launch of the video game "Rampage?" (people drink cans of soda and turn into giant monsters) I've heard this theory from friends but haven't seen anything yet on RT. "Rampage" is a good title for a mysterious monster movie, no? Even if there's no giant gorilla and no giant wolf-creature.

(Reply to this)

WiseGuy writes:
on Oct 01 2007 09:58 AM

Who wants to start placing bets that this thing gets bumped back into a summer release?

(Reply to this)

Xavier Telouran writes:
on Oct 01 2007 10:21 AM

This is waaaay too much build-up for a reveal of a man in a rubber crab suit. Earth to JJ: South Park already did Crab People!

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Oct 01 2007 10:21 AM

frogleg,

dont get me wrong, im interested to see the movie, but i think that the way this movie is being marketed and hyped on the internet, the end result is bound to disappoint. call it the Snakes on a Plane effect.

(Reply to this)

nightbat666 writes:
on Oct 01 2007 11:01 AM

i already think it's gonna be crap.

(Reply to this)

DanSmith writes:
on Oct 01 2007 12:02 PM

maybe they make a bunch of that, and then the monster goes away after eating it.

(Reply to this)

YouAreAllCommunists writes:
on Oct 01 2007 01:08 PM

If it's a giant crab, I'll see it just to mock it. But what do they care why I see it? If they've got my money, they win.

(Reply to this)

pwnsauce3k writes:
on Oct 01 2007 02:58 PM

It's a giant enemy crab! They need to attack its weak point for massive damage!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Enemy_Crab

(Reply to this)

~ VENOM ~ writes:
on Oct 01 2007 04:16 PM

Whatever the monster is, it will be good. By the amount of anticipation that the film has given out, it'd better be good. JJ's not doing a bad job, but enough's enough. The trailer came out during the Transformers movie correct? It's almost three months now and all that we've had besides that minute and a half trailer is a pretty cool picture of Lady Liberty's head torn off with a pathway through buildings that the creature took.

It's time for another trailer, or at least a picture giving a little bigger clue as to what the monster is and what this movie's about. Come on JJ! We want more stuff, you can't just leave us with the teaser until December!

(Reply to this)

AmazingAndrex writes:
on Oct 01 2007 04:29 PM

GOLD pwnsauce, gold.

I concur with blank, give me more TDK stuff over this Godzilla knockoff any day!

And yes, I do know how woefully ignorant that statement is.

(Reply to this)

damvbat writes:
on Oct 01 2007 05:12 PM

Oh I like the rampage movie thing, that would be sooooo great.

(Reply to this)

eastern2western writes:
on Oct 01 2007 09:58 PM

Do u folks remember blair witch project
That movie taught me a very good lesson. It was hyped to the pt of infinity on the internet and it made a pile of cash (100 million plus). All of the professional critiques were praising that movie like some kind of horror classic. However, I was the one who was skeptical about the movie because I heard that it was some stupid independent movie that was produce in less than a week and it did not see it till it came out for rental. It turned out that I was right and I wasted my money and time that I will never get back. That movie was the the biggest pile of poop poop I have ever seen in my life. The whole thing looks like some stupid home movie about couple morons who were stuck in the woods during a camping trip. It was not scary at all. All the actors were simply horribl. The camera work was just fill with jiggy movements. This abram project looks like it is following another blair witch project campaign as an example. It is film with digital camcorders and it is low budget (30 million). Another sign that it is bad is that it comes out in january.

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frogleg writes:
on Oct 02 2007 06:23 AM

I understand, and agree - the hype for this movie sets the bar pretty high. But it's quite possible the movie will deliver. I guess I'm trying to adopt the optimistic approach, because that's more fun for me. It will definitely suck if the movie's just mediocre after all this, but if it's great, then I think this creative marketing just adds to the total enjoyment.
I agree "Blair Witch" wasn't a great movie, but the lead-up to it was fun. I guess I'm taking it almost as a separate entity from the movie itself, if that makes any sense at all.

(Reply to this)

Vega-Star writes:
on Oct 02 2007 07:42 AM

interesting.

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lonewolf6886 writes:
on Dec 04 2007 04:11 PM

If this movie doesn't have anything to do with H.P. Lovecraft, I'm going to be upset.

(Reply to this)