Three Good Reasons

J.J. Abrams - Abrams was the creative brains behind Lost, Alias, Felicity, Mission Impossible III and the upcoming Star Trek. If anyone could rethink the giant monster genre, it is J.J.

Drew Goddard - Goddard is one of the key writers on Lost and being, behind some of the show's most mythology-heavy themes.

The hype - After launching a covert trailer without a title, the film was known as 18-1-08 for several months. This mystery remains true to the first person camera view of the confused survivors.

Some Facts

To prevent the leaking of plot information, instead of auditioning the actors with scenes from the film, scripts from Abrams's previous productions were used, such as television series Alias.Some scenes were also written specifically for the audition process, not intended for use in the film.

Despite not being told the premise of the film, Lizzy Caplan stated that she accepted a role in Cloverfield solely because she was a fan of the Abrams-produced television series Lost, and her experience of discovering its true nature initially caused her to state that she would not sign on for a film in the future "without knowing full well what it is."