Critics are loving '10 Cloverfield Lane,' the first surprise hit movie of 2016

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In 2008, J.J. Abrams unleashed a different kind of monster movie on the world with "Cloverfield." The producer worked with director Matt Reeves (who would go on to do “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”) and screenwriter Drew Goddard (Oscar-nominated this year for “The Martian”) on the found-footage thriller about a creature that attacks New York City.

The movie made a modest box office of $170 million worldwide (a success given its equally modest budget of $25 million), and was basically written off as a fun lark for three friends.

Then a few months ago, when the trailer for “10 Cloverfield Lane” went online, everyone realized that Abrams (the only member of the trio from the original to return) had pulled off making a sequel with very few knowing it was even in the works.

Opening today and backed with a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (it’s projected to make around $20 million this weekend), “10 Cloverfield Lane” isn’t just the first surprise hit of the year. It could also be the launch of a franchise. As our review of the movie proclaims: “This looks like the start of something great.” 

Here’s why the critics are so in love with this movie.

No, you don't need to see "Cloverfield" before seeing it.

And that’s a good thing, seeing as most probably haven’t thought about the film for eight years.

“'10 Cloverfield Lane' is, as Abrams puts it, a ‘spiritual successor’ … [with] a hint of overlap here, a pinch of DNA there,” GamesRadar+ writes.

In fact, the movie, directed by first-timer Dan Trachtenberg, started as its own standalone thriller, but was thrust into the “Cloverfield” mythology deep into its production.

It’s a "Twilight Zone" episode in every creepy way.

Many critics have pointed out that its eerie atmosphere is similar to a story you’d find from the classic 1950s Rod Serling TV show.

As USA Today writes, it “mixes elements of an intimate stage play with the white-knuckled tension of a cracking good ‘Twilight Zone’ episode.” 

And you can’t get any closer to what Serling did on his show than this observation about the movie by the LA Times: "'10 Cloverfield Lane' posits that perhaps the real damage is to be done not by outside invaders but by those already among us."

Don't see this movie alone.

Part of the horror comes from that fact that the movie takes place in a bunker deep below the surface. So it might be good to bring someone to hold onto when you feel the theater walls closing in on you.

“At one point, this movie had me so on edge that I had a fleeting impulse to run out of the theater,” SFGate said.

"'10 Cloverfield Lane' does a spectacular job of capturing nightmare logic," The Guardian writes. "You sense danger even if you can’t explain it."