Artists love releasing projects onto unsuspecting fans. But as a medium, film doesn’t exactly lend itself to secrecy. Most movies require a small army to get off the ground, making it difficult for any production to keep itself under wraps. And if there are big names attached? Consider the secret kaput.

And yet! Some filmmakers have still managed to pull off this spectacular feat, including Louis C.K., whose surprise black-and-white film I Love You, Daddy—secretly filmed in New York with actors Pamela Adlon, John Malkovich, and more—will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival this September. Here are nine other times filmmakers managed to pull off a cinematic surprise, from Steven Soderbergh’s mysterious iPhone movie to Randy Moore’s Disney World odyssey.

9 Impressively Secret Movies That Came Out of Nowhere



1 / 9 Chevron Chevron By Michele K. Short/Paramount Pictures/Everett Collection. 10 Cloverfield Lane While basking in the afterglow of directing a Star Wars movie, J.J. Abrams decided to throw his energy behind something smaller: a secret, spiritual sequel to his 2008 film Cloverfield. In 2016, a trailer dropped from the sky for 10 Cloverfield Lane, a smashing sci-fi thriller produced by Abrams and directed by Dan Trachtenberg. Details of the film, which was previously called Valencia to throw snoops off the track, were kept under wraps for months, practically until the film’s eventual release.

Take a look in the gallery above.