Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

10 Cloverfield Lane

Eight years ago, Matt Reeves plucked a number of relatively unknown actors out and dropped them into a New York City apartment during a surprise party, an event brought to an end by a massive blackout and a strange, massive creature rampaging through the city, stalking them all and killing them one by one. This found-footage horror flick developed a cult following and while it was largely entertaining, it didn’t plow any new ground and certainly didn’t deliver the same level of thrills and excitement as it should have.

Moving half way across the country, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a lateral sequel. It takes place in the same world and during the same events of Cloverfield, but turns the narrative into a locked-room drama. Three survivors of a supposed aerosol attack are hunkered down in a bunker where the owner’s (John Goodman) motives are in question early on, but even out as the piece moves forward.

A trio of solid performances punctuate the drama. Goodman is at the top of the list, but equally compelling are Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the young woman he’s taken in after a near-fatal car accident and John Gallagher Jr as a construction worker who had to wrestle his way into the compound.

Director Dan Trachtenberg delivers a mesmerizing and chilling drama. He develops tension with ease and never lets the audience forget that events can turn on a moment’s notice. Going in, it’s difficult to believe a film like this could run 103 minutes, but not only does he and screenwriters Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken and Oscar nominee Damien Chazelle succeed, they do so with relative ease and supreme confidence.

I wavered a great deal on what to rate this film. In the end, I was unable to isolate anything that frustrated me enough to keep it from getting the highest rating. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s surprisingly close.