While it's part of the Cloverfield universe, 10 Cloverfield Lane drew its inspiration from another horror movie — Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller, Psycho. 10 Cloverfield Lane has loose connections to its predecessor, but Psycho's fingerprints can be found all over the film.
The movie mirrors Psycho in multiple ways, such as themes, plot, and even its score. 10 Cloverfield Lane kicks off with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) leaving her abusive ex-boyfriend. In the panic, she crashes her car and wakes up in an underground bunker to a man named Howard (John Goodman) informing her that there was a chemical attack, and the only chance of survival is staying below ground. The movie drips with paranoia and fear, just like Psycho.
Every ode to Psycho makes 10 Cloverfield Lane a better horror movie. In fact, the most exciting plot twist in the entire Cloverfield series can be traced back to Psycho's inspiration. Here are the ways that the classic horror movie inspired 10 Cloverfield Lane.
How Psycho Inspired 10 Cloverfield Lane
10 Cloverfield Lane's similarities to Psycho are evident from the beginning of the film. Both films kick off with women running away from something in their lives — Psycho's Marion tries to run away with her boyfriend, and 10 Cloverfield Lane's Michelle wants to run away from a bad relationship. Each of the women end up trapped by different men who don't want Marion or Michelle, respectively, to leave their sights. The women of Psycho and 10 Cloverfield Lane both suspect something sinister is at play in their current situations, locked in a confined setting. The score of 10 Cloverfield Lane was even heavily inspired by Psycho's iconic score. Every ode and nod to the classic horror film led to 10 Cloverfield Lane's twist ending, which ended up being one of the most clever plot points in the entire Cloverfield series.
The endings of both Psycho and 10 Cloverfield Lane deploy a bit of sleight-of-hand. The protagonist, along with the audience, believes the threat comes from one source, when it really originated from somewhere else. In Psycho, Marion and Lila believe Mrs. Bates is a threat, but the movie's its twist ending shows that it is actually Norman. 10 Cloverfield Lane followed suit with its ending. Michelle was suspicious of Howard the entire movie, assuming he invented the dangers happening above ground. But once Michelle escapes the bunker, she realizes Howard was right — and the attack was even worse than he described.
10 Cloverfield Lane's twist ending not only provides a thrilling and explosive final few moments of the film, but it's what reveals to the audience that it's part of the Cloverfield universe. Promotions for the film revealed it somehow related to Cloverfield, but never explained how. Holding onto that reveal until the very end kept the audience engaged and on their toes. 10 Cloverfield Lane's ending also was the first time Cloverfield fans got some answers about the attack in the first movie. The series took a dip in quality with its third addition, The Cloverfield Paradox, but that last moment in 10 Cloverfield Lane provided an unexpected thrill unlike any fans of the franchise had gotten to experience in nearly decades — and it's all thanks to Psycho.