Cloverfield is a 2008 monster/horror film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard. Before the film's release Paramount Pictures carried out a viral marketing campaign to promote the film. The campaign included viral tie-ins similar to Lost Experience.[5] The film follows five young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that a gigantic monster attacks the city. First publicized within a teaser trailer in screenings of Transformers, the film was released on January 17 in New Zealand and Australia, on January 18 in North America, on January 24 in South Korea and on February 1 in Ireland, in the UK and in Italy. In Japan, the film was released on April 5.

The film is presented as a video file recovered from a digital hand-held camera by the United States Department of Defense. At the start of the film, it is stated the camera was "found in US-447, area formerly known as Central Park". The main record of events is interspersed with footage shot on a personal hand-held camera used by various characters prior to the crisis.

On April 27 at 6:42am, Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) awakens after spending a romantic night with longtime platonic friend Beth (Odette Yustman) in her father's Columbus Circle apartment. They plan to visit Coney Island for the day.

On May 22, Rob's brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas) prepare a Manhattan apartment for Rob's farewell party, as he has accepted a job as a vice president in his company's office in Japan. Rob's best friend Hudson "Hud" Platt (T. J. Miller) is given a camera by Jason and the responsibility of recording final goodbyes from family and friends at the party, but instead unsuccessfully flirts with his crush, Marlena (Lizzy Caplan). Beth arrives with a date, Travis (Ben Feldman), which upsets Rob. To his dismay, he realizes Hud is taping over footage of him and Beth, including their trip to Coney Island, which shows up intermittently throughout the film. Lily reveals Rob and Beth slept together several weeks previously, which Hud then shares with other people at the party, making the matter worse. Rob provokes Beth and her date into leaving the party.