Something — some thing — is terrifying the good folks of Lillian, Ohio, but what is it? A gas-station attendant, his face blanched with fear, sees it and screams; all we see is his body being jerked out of the frame. A telephone lineman on his crane hears it as a clattering clank of metal, like a clumsy heist at Home Depot; soon he's gone. But the creepiest hint that a nasty creature lurks in Lillian comes when 12-year-old Joe (Joel Courtney) posts a notice about his lost dog on a public bulletin board and the camera pulls back to reveal a hundred posters of missing pets. Who, or what, took the dogs out?
有东西——未知的东西——搞得俄亥俄州莉莉安镇的人们人心惶惶。被吓得脸色惨白的加气站服务员亲眼目睹了那个“东西”并发出了惨叫声;被发现时他的身体已经扭曲变形。塔吊上的线路工人听到了类似于敲击金属的咣当声,仿佛旅店中粗暴笨拙的抢劫犯发出的声音;之后线路工人离开了。紧接着画面切换,12岁的乔(乔·考特尼)在公告栏上张贴自己的寻狗启示,而当镜头一转,映入眼帘的是公告栏上近百则寻狗启示。这一切都预示着一个可怕的事实——可怖的未知生物正藏匿在莉莉安镇某处。到底是什么东西掳走了所有的小狗?

J.J. Abrams, writer and director of the scary, artful new thriller Super 8, is a hoarder of secrets, a master in the fine art of withholding information. Fans of Lost, the TV series he co-created, had to stick around six years for its mysteries to be revealed. "J.J. makes the audience wait for it," says Steven Spielberg, a producer and abettor of Super 8. With a conjurer's practiced blandness, Abrams simply says, "I believe in anything that will engage the audience and make the story more effective." But the man is no sadist. He, more than anyone, loves not knowing what comes next. As a boy, he bought a mystery box at a Manhattan magic store; now 44, he still has the box and still hasn't opened it.
作为这部技惊四座的惊悚片的编剧和导演,J.J.艾伯拉姆斯巧妙地将悬念留到了最后,娴熟地牵动着观众的求知欲。作为他参与制作的TV神剧《迷失》的粉丝,观众曾紧追该剧六年只为一睹谜底揭开面纱。“J.J.让观众愿意耐心等待,”斯皮尔伯格表示,他同时也是《超级8》的制片人和拥趸之一。有着魔术师般娴熟技巧的艾伯拉姆斯表示,“我对于任何能吊起观众胃口并增强影片故事性的元素都乐此不疲。”但是他可不是施虐狂。他和所有人一样,对未知充满了热忱。小时候的艾伯拉姆斯曾在曼哈顿的魔术商店里面买了一个神秘盒;如今44岁的他仍然保存着那个神秘盒,并且至今未将其打开。

What's Inside the Boxcar?
车厢里面到底有什么?

The mystery box in Super 8 is a boxcar on a freight train speeding through Lillian one night in 1979 as some kids are furtively shooting a Super-8 movie. Pudgy Charles  is the director, with the quick mind, bossiness and vast reserves of movie lore that mark a budding auteur. Cary puts his pyrotechnic and possibly pyromaniacal skills to use as special-effects wizard. Joe does makeup and constructs the models that Charles' action film will crash. But like any nebbishy guys, these kids are making movies to attract the ladies — specifically their leading lady, Alice , a 14-year-old blonde with an imperious star quality. As Joe powders her face for the shoot, he gazes at her with naked adoration, perspiration forming on his brow like evening dew.
《超级8》中的神秘盒是1979年某晚驶过莉莉安的一列货车的车厢。当时孩子们正在暗地里拍摄一部名为“超级8”的电影。思维敏捷、知识渊博的小胖墩查尔斯是影片导演。盖瑞用他的近乎于纵火癖的烟火表演天赋为影片做视觉特效。乔负责化妆以及设计拍摄时要被毁掉的模型。然而和其他总被无视的男孩子一样,这些孩子拍摄电影旨在吸引异性的注意——尤其是他们心目中的女神爱丽丝,一个有着巨星般神采的十四岁金发女孩。当化妆师乔给爱丽丝扑粉的时候,他钦慕地盯着她,眉宇间的汗珠仿佛傍晚的露珠一般。

In the middle of their big take, the train crashes into a car on the tracks, spraying tons of debris their way and sending a platoon of military men fanning out across the scene. Only Joe has noticed that the car was driven onto the tracks, seemingly in a suicide mission. In the car is the boys' science teacher, injured and near death. "They will kill you," he mutters. "Do not speak of this or else you and your parents will die." Do not speak of what? Of the thing that none of the kids saw — the some thing that has escaped.
正当他们拍摄一个大场面的时候,一辆火车撞上了一辆铁轨上的汽车,无数残片四处飞舞,一队军人被冲击力击向空中。只有乔注意到,那辆小汽车是主动开上铁轨的,以一种近乎自杀的方式。车上坐着的是男孩儿们的科学老师,他身负重伤,奄奄一息。“他们会杀了你们的,”他喃喃地说。“别告诉别人,否则你们和你们的父母都在劫难逃。”别告诉别人什么?别告诉别人关于孩子们都没有看到的东西——那个东西逃走了。