'10 Cloverfield Lane' Trailer Song "I Think We're Alone Now" Is Perfect for Horror

There’s a new Cloverfield trailer making internet waves today! We have no idea what, exactly, has happened in the aftermath of the 2008 monster masher — but we do know that the trailer masterfully uses the 1967 Brit-pop song “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tommy James & the Shondells. Shake it away, John Goodman:

You might think that it’s just uber-creepy sound editing that makes this tune seem so sinister. You might believe “I Think We’re Alone Now” is a cheery platitude to secret crushes and youthful indiscretions. You might be dead wrong. Have you ever looked closely at the lyrics? Shit’s dark as necrotized skin.

Without even watching the trailer, you could probably sing it from memory (maybe from the 1987 Tiffany cover?). Here’s how it starts:

Children behave, that’s what they say when we’re together

And watch how you play

They don’t understand

And so we’re

Pretty normal start! You could totally sort of start sliding your hands down onto your date’s waist to that intro. It goes on:

Running just as fast as we can, holding on to one another’s hands

Trying to get away into the night and then you put your arms around me

And we tumble to the ground and then you say

Huh. “Tumbling to the ground” is probably a metaphor for discovering that in this slow dance called life, sometimes ninth-graders have to deal with uncontrolled chubbing. Gross, but not, you know, spooky. What is spooky is that our misbehaving children heroes have had to make a nocturnal escape. The Hunger Games are still decades off — American children didn’t know how to shoot their way out of danger yet!

I think we’re alone now,

There doesn’t seem to be anyone around

We’re completely alone now,

The beating of our hearts is the only sound

Then, uh …

Look at the way we gotta cover up this body

‘Cause what would they say

If they ever knew

And so we’re

Why can’t you hear anything besides yourselves? We know now, because Katniss taught a generation of children to love reading and survivalism, there should be bird sounds. Or, like, bugs calling to each other in the dark. Where are the night-bugs?

Running just as fast as we can, tryin’ to stop the bleeding with our hands

Scrambling to get away into the night and then you put your arms around me

And we tumble to the ground and then you say

They’ve tumbled an above-average number of times now. Is the ground too soft, suggesting ecological devastation? Are their ankles weak? Has the radiation poisoning set in? Applying direct pressure to wounds is pretty smart, though. Maybe we’re starting to get a better sense of the mysterious plot of this new Cloverfield joint?

I think we’re alone now,

Oh, God, what is that approaching sound

We’re definitely not alone now,

I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound

Such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton

Are we alone now?

We’ve woken up chained to the cold ground

Can anyone hear us, please

The screaming from our mouths makes a lot of sound

I think we’re alone now,

There doesn’t seem to be anyone around

Like, literally, we’re the last humans alive,

The xenoparasites blebbing from our heart-husks is the only sound

Daaaaaaaamn, Tommy James & the Shondells, this is even bleaker than listening to the extended “muffled upstairs thud” cut of Luka. But, truly, this is the best glimpse we have into the thinking of director Dan Trachtenberg with this claustrophobic scarefest. As the internet scrambles to figure out just what the new movie is about, we’ll be over here poring over these lyrics, looking for any clues, no matter how vague or ambiguous or obviously made-up or arcane.