I guess the power of the title (not just as a cash grab) is that it lets you as the audience know that the aliens are real and that the attack is real.
I think that knowing that the attack is real adds more tension to the film. If you think about it from Michelle's point of view, of course she doesn't believe aliens are attacking. If you woke up chained to a wall and someone told you there had been an attack (alien, chemical), you'd probably think it was BS, too.
But by having the word "Cloverfield" in the title, you know the aliens are real. As an audience member, that made me conflicted. If I knew the attack wasn't real (or strongly suspected it wasn't real), I'd be 100% rooting for Michelle to bash Howard over the head and run for it. But because I know that the attack is real, I also know that if Michelle escapes she might be going out of the frying pan and into the fire.
So to me, the title has some value because it raises the stakes of the movie and makes me more conflicted about what I want to see happen. Michelle escaping no longer becomes my ideal ending because I know she might end up in more danger than what she faced in the bunker.
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