Cloverfield / 1-18-08 / Ethan Haas / Slusho!

Before Transformers, they showed a trailer for a JJ Abrams movie (not Star Trek, pretty sure). It didn't give a title, but everyone's referring to it as either "1-18-08," or it's code name, "Cloverfield."

Watch the teaser in glorious HD here.

I really dig the intensity of the shakycam style; if they do the whole movie like that, it looks to have a lot of potential.

People have been speculating that the alternative reality game Ethan Haas Was Right may possibly be connected to Cloverfield (check its Wikipedia entry for the reasons why). I've spent a solid two hours at the EHWR website trying to make my way through the puzzles, as the last two have been especially challenging. After you solve each puzzle, you are treated to a video from "Van Mantra," who tells you about the apocalyptic prophecies of Ethan Haas and about organizing some sort of resistance group to the impending doom.

The speculation may amount to naught, however, as Abrams has sent a note to Fat Harry at Aint It Cool saying that EHWR is in fact NOT in any way linked to Cloverfield. Is he for real, or just trying to throw us all off the scent? As with most things, only time will tell (August 1, according to Van!).

Ah, viral marketing. Most of the time it's lame and far too self-aware, but when it's really on, it's pretty fucking cool.

Links:

Official 1-18-08 site.
Ethan Haas Was Right
Ethan Haas Was Wrong

And the five messages from Van at EHWR, rolled into one:



UPDATE: New linkage found between all this business and Slusho! Read about it at CHUD.