Flawed yet immensely enjoyable, Cloverfield is an American monster tale unlike any other. With its obvious Godzilla and 9/11 influence, Cloverfield is unforgettable. The story may be clichéd and the frustrating lack of answers always sticks in the back of your mind, but this is the best American-made giant monster movie in decades.

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Shot entirely with HD cameras, the movie looks gorgeous on DVD. Great black levels keep the night looking sharp, and the transfer itself is flawless. A minor shot or two does comes off overly grainy, though almost certainly intentional (the first explosion seen from the roof). The shift in color tones is handled well, and barely any compression artifacts are evident, a miracle given the heavy, shifting movement. DVDs rarely look better than this.

While it remains a mystery how a small handicam could record in 5.1, this DVD is a blistering piece of audio work. Obviously, any scene with the monster is worthy of a demonstration. The first army assault is spectacular, with tanks causing the subwoofer to work overtime, standard gun fire ripping through each speaker, and the groans from the creature mixed in behind the noise. Immersive audio in the subway is incredible in its ambience.

The commentary from director Matt Reeves is going to disappoint a lot of people. This is purely a technical commentary, discussing the shoot and repetitively mentioning the limited budget. There is no explanation for the beast, he points out no small touches, and fails to clarify anything other than how the movie was shot.

That leads into some robust extras apart from that. Document 1-18-08 is a half-hour behind the scenes piece loaded with on set footage. While it begins as promotional material, it quickly turns into a nice look at how the film came to be. Cloverfield Visual Effects is an aptly titled piece on the CG and green screen shots that offers countless comparisons of the live action and final composites during its 22 minute run.

I Saw It, It’s Alive, It’s Huge is a five and a half minute short on the main creature design. There is confirmation here that the monster featured is in fact only a baby as seen in the film. Cloverfun is a rather bland collection of outtakes for four minutes.

Four deleted scenes include commentary and offer little to the overall film, while most of the footage shown here ended up in the movie anyway. Two alternate endings also feature very minor changes, and you’ll need the commentary to pick out the differences on the second on. Some trailers are the final piece to this disc.

Best Buy is offering an exclusive extras DVD with the film. This contains the T.J. Miller Video Diary, a 24 minute piece played for laughs from the viewpoint of Miller (who played Hud in the film). A segment about the apartment is priceless. It’s a decent extra if you’re headed to Best Buy to pick it up anyway.