Mr. Movie: ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ a bit of drama mixed with horror, sci-fi

10 Cloverfield Lane is tough to define, but one hint about how good it is comes from the producing credits. Producer/director/writer J.J. Abrams (Star Wars, Star Trek) is involved.

Movie websites are putting it in several categories: drama, mystery and sci-fi. I’d add horror to the list and in reality, it’s a mix of all four. And definition doesn’t matter anyway. This one is original from start to finish, and most of the time has you planted firmly on the edge of your seat.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s (A Good Day to Die Hard) Michelle gets into a car wreck and wakes up in a concrete room chained to a wall. Her captor is Howard. He’s wonderfully played by John Goodman. Howard is not quite connected to the real world and tells Michelle nerve gas or some biological weapon is killing everyone. The cause could be a Russian or North Korean invasion, or — gulp — Martians.

She can’t leave, and neither can John Gallagher Jr.’s (The Newsroom) Emmett, who Howard also rescued.

First-time director Dan Trachtenberg and first-time writers Josh Campbell and Matthew Stuecken get screenwriting help from Whiplash’s Damien Chazelle. They do an incredible job of keeping you on the edge of your seat and give Goodman, Winstead and Gallagher plenty to play with.

Doubt, then belief, then doubt make 10 Cloverfield Lane a nail-biter and the right address to visit this weekend.

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ a bit of drama mixed with horror, sci-fi."