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?
有東西——未知的東西——搞得俄亥俄州莉莉安鎮(zhèn)的人們人心惶惶。被嚇得臉色慘白的加氣站服務員親眼目睹了那個“東西”并發(fā)出了慘叫聲；被發(fā)現時他的身體已經扭曲變形。塔吊上的線路工人聽到了類似于敲擊金屬的咣當聲，仿佛旅店中粗暴笨拙的搶劫犯發(fā)出的聲音；之后線路工人離開了。緊接著畫面切換，12歲的喬（喬·考特尼）在公告欄上張貼自己的尋狗啟示，而當鏡頭一轉，映入眼簾的是公告欄上近百則尋狗啟示。這一切都預示著一個可怕的事實——可怖的未知生物正藏匿在莉莉安鎮(zhèn)某處。到底是什么東西擄走了所有的小狗？

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.
作為這部技驚四座的驚悚片的編劇和導演，J.J.艾伯拉姆斯巧妙地將懸念留到了最后，嫻熟地牽動著觀眾的求知欲。作為他參與制作的TV神劇《迷失》的粉絲，觀眾曾緊追該劇六年只為一睹謎底揭開面紗?！癑.J.讓觀眾愿意耐心等待，”斯皮爾伯格表示，他同時也是《超級8》的制片人和擁躉之一。有著魔術師般嫻熟技巧的艾伯拉姆斯表示，“我對于任何能吊起觀眾胃口并增強影片故事性的元素都樂此不疲?！钡撬刹皇鞘┡翱瘛Ｋ退腥艘粯?，對未知充滿了熱忱。小時候的艾伯拉姆斯曾在曼哈頓的魔術商店里面買了一個神秘盒；如今44歲的他仍然保存著那個神秘盒，并且至今未將其打開。

What's Inside the Boxcar?
車廂里面到底有什么？

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.
《超級8》中的神秘盒是1979年某晚駛過莉莉安的一列貨車的車廂。當時孩子們正在暗地里拍攝一部名為“超級8”的電影。思維敏捷、知識淵博的小胖墩查爾斯是影片導演。蓋瑞用他的近乎于縱火癖的煙火表演天賦為影片做視覺特效。喬負責化妝以及設計拍攝時要被毀掉的模型。然而和其他總被無視的男孩子一樣，這些孩子拍攝電影旨在吸引異性的注意——尤其是他們心目中的女神愛麗絲，一個有著巨星般神采的十四歲金發(fā)女孩。當化妝師喬給愛麗絲撲粉的時候，他欽慕地盯著她，眉宇間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.
正當他們拍攝一個大場面的時候，一輛火車撞上了一輛鐵軌上的汽車，無數殘片四處飛舞，一隊軍人被沖擊力擊向空中。只有喬注意到，那輛小汽車是主動開上鐵軌的，以一種近乎自殺的方式。車上坐著的是男孩兒們的科學老師，他身負重傷，奄奄一息?！八麄儠⒘四銈兊模彼卣f?！皠e告訴別人，否則你們和你們的父母都在劫難逃?！眲e告訴別人什么？別告訴別人關于孩子們都沒有看到的東西——那個東西逃走了。