One of the best kaiju movies of the century is free to stream ‣ Diverse Daily

Kaiju movies have been all the rage lately. In the past decades, audiences have flocked to theaters to see monsters like Godzilla and King Kong duke it out in Legendary’s Monsterverse. More recently, audiences have raved over filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki’s new movie, Godzilla Minus Zero, the sequel to the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One. This movie, in particular, left me craving more thrilling, heartfelt kaiju films. Thankfully, Cloverfield, one of the century’s best kaiju movies, was already streaming for free on Pluto TV.

Directed by The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves, this 2008 movie follows a group of 20-somethings in New York who get caught up in a giant monster attack during a friend’s going-away party. As the military tries to evacuate Manhattan and kill the creature, the core group tries to rescue one of their friends after she gets trapped in the ruined city.

Cloverfield pays homage to classic creature features like Godzilla while putting its own spin on the kaiju movie formula. The entire movie is shot with a camcorder used by the characters. With its found-footage filmmaking, Cloverfield gives us an immersive look at the regular people on the ground trying to survive the monster’s attack on New York. We feel like we’re right there in the middle of the chaos, which makes it one of the most unique kaiju movies out there.

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Cloverfield is a masterclass of mystery, suspense, and horror

Cloverfield unleashed a new kind of monster movie

Cloverfield was one giant mystery box before it even came out. The movie’s viral marketing kept its story shrouded in secrecy, which only made people more curious to see it in theaters. Still, the movie offers zero explanation of what the creature is or where it came from, but it only makes this cosmic horror movie even more terrifying.

Ultimately, Cloverfield’s clever campaign paid off, as the film grossed over $172 million in theaters on a $25 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. Cloverfield also has a 78% “Certified Fresh” score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie even started a sci-fi anthology franchise that features titles like 10 Cloverfield Lane and Netflix’s The Cloverfield Paradox.

In the end, Cloverfield was America’s answer to Godzilla. While the latter film invoked Japan’s post WWII-trauma from the atomic bombings, Cloverfield touched upon America’s post-9/11 anxieties, with one character assuming the monster’s rampage was another terrorist attack. Likewise, images of crumbling buildings leaving the streets and people covered in dust brought up dark memories of the city on 9/11.

Underneath this massive kaiju movie is a human story about a young man struggling to be with the woman he loves. Though he tries to rescue her and profess his love, the film offers little mercy to them or their friends as the giant monster lays waste to New York. Cloverfield is very much the antithesis of Yamazaki’s Godzilla movies, as this Lovecraftian movie offers little hope for the characters as they face a chaotic, uncaring threat beyond their understanding.

Stream Cloverfield for free on Pluto TV

Experience this sci-fi rollercoaster at home

A decapitated Statue of Liberty in Cloverfield

Since Pluto TV is owned by Skydance, the parent company of Paramount, Cloverfield and the studio’s other hits are now streaming for free on the platform. No account or paid subscription is necessary. You just have to watch occasional two- to three-minute ad breaks with the movie.

You can start watching by going to the Pluto TV website in your browser. Alternatively, you can watch from the Pluto TV app, which can be used on any iOS or Android device, including smartphones and tablets. The app is also accessible from smart TVs or streaming devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku TV, or Google Chromecast.

If you’re not a fan of Pluto TV, you can instead stream Cloverfield for free on Fandango at Home.

What else is streaming on Pluto TV?

Watch several sci-fi and monster movies for free

Pluto TV features several must-see monster movies, including J.J. Abrams’ Super 8, 1976’s King Kong, and Bong Joon Ho’s The Host. You can even catch other sci-fi classics like The X-Files, Battlestar Galactica, The Matrix, Terminator 2, and the entire Star Trek film franchise. Also, if you’re a fan of Cloverfield, you can check out its standalone sequel, 10 Cloverfield Lane, which is less of a kaiju movie and more of a suspenseful survival thriller.

While there are so many other thrilling and iconic sci-fi titles on Pluto TV, none of them are quite like Cloverfield. The movie delivers a horrifying, heart-pounding adventure as New York becomes a war zone filled with monsters. Most kaiju movies focus on monsters battling with each other, but Cloverfield succeeds by focusing on the people affected by the chaos unleashed on their city. This makes Cloverfield one of the most thrilling, realistic monster movies to come out of the 2000s.