A bunch of young New Yorkers watch in horror, run for their lives and still manage to videotape (though shakily) as Manhattan is being ripped apart by a horrific reptilian creature of unknown descent and unstoppable force in “Cloverfield.”

Damage, injury and death begin within the first ten minutes of this Matt Reeves-directed, J. J. Abrams-produced reinvention of the monster movie genre and we get to see it all through the handheld digital camera filming of Hud (T. J. Miller).

Hud is attending a going-away party for best friend Rob (Michael Stahl-David) who is going away to Japan to start his new job and is on recording-the-event duty. Young fresh-faced party guests are shown as they unsuspectingly enjoy themselves – when doom strikes.

A monster wreaks havoc and destruction on New York City before the very eyes of the film’s cast, a gathering of anonymous actors that die one by one throughout the disaster.

Hud’s shaky documentary-like filming of the devastation that follows is reminiscent of the chilling “The Blair Witch Project” released in 1999, only this time around the action is not limited to a dark and spooky forest but to a metropolis whose landmarks are destroyed by an elusive apparently imperishable reptilian creature one by one.

(I personally found the beheading of the Statue of Liberty very disturbing and more evocative of the 9/11 tragedy than I would have liked to see in a fictional creation.)

However, while in “Blair Witch” having the three students ask themselves with blood-chilling fright what the heck was going on, without receiving any answer, is realistically frightening, in “Cloverfield” the complete absence of questioning the monster’s presence in the Big Apple is a bit hard to take in.

Abrams, celebrated creator of sci-fi series “Lost,” is well accustomed with the means of scaring his viewers without actually showing something scary, inducing claustrophobia and a sensation of impossibility to escape.

Through all the heavy terror, Drew Goddard’s script still manages to insert romantic allusions, following Rob’s affection for longtime friend Beth (Odette Yustman) from his hesitation to declare his love during the going-away party to the point where he bravely sets off to save her from the creature.

Opens Friday nationwide.

Rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Violence, terror and disturbing images. Directed by Matt Reeves; written by Drew Goddard; director of photography, Michael Bonvillain; edited by Kevin Stitt; production designer, Martin Whist; visual effects by Double Negative and Tippett Studio; produced by J. J. Abrams and Bryan Burk; released by Paramount Pictures.

Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes.

With: Lizzy Caplan (Marlena), Jessica Lucas (Lily), T. J. Miller (Hud), Michael Stahl-David (Rob), Mike Vogel (Jason) and Odette Yustman (Beth).