Apollo 18
Tags: suspenseful, boring, home movie

Plot synopsis:
In December 1974, the crew of the cancelled Apollo 18 mission is informed that it will now proceed as a top secret Department of Defense (DoD) mission disguised as a satellite launch. Commander Nathan Walker, Lieutenant Colonel John Grey, and Captain Ben Anderson are launched toward the Moon to place detectors to alert the United States of any impending ICBM attacks from the USSR.
Grey remains in orbit aboard the Freedom command module while Walker and Anderson land on the moon in the lunar module Liberty. While planting one of the detectors, the pair take moon rock samples. After returning to Liberty, the pair hear noises outside and a camera captures a small rock moving nearby. Houston claims the noises are interference from the ICBM detectors. Anderson finds a rock sample on the floor of Liberty despite having secured the samples. During further lunar exploration they discover footprints that lead them to a bloodstained, functioning Soviet LK lander, and a dead cosmonaut in a nearby crater. Walker queries Houston about the Soviet presence, but he is told only to continue with the mission.
The following day the pair find that the flag they had planted is missing. Their mission complete, the crew prepares to leave, but the launch is aborted when Liberty suffers violent shaking. An inspection reveals extensive damage to Liberty and non-human tracks that Walker cites as evidence of extraterrestrial life. Walker feels something moving inside his spacesuit and is horrified as a spider-like creature crawls across the inside of his helmet. Walker disappears from view and Anderson finds him unconscious outside of Liberty. Walker later denies the events. A wound is discovered on Walker's chest; Anderson removes a moon rock embedded within him. The pair find themselves unable to contact Houston or Grey due to increased levels of interference from an unknown source.
Anderson speculates that the true intention of the ICBM warning devices is to monitor the aliens, and that the devices are the source of the interference, only to discover something has destroyed them when they attempt to switch them off. Walker shows signs of a developing infection and he becomes increasingly paranoid. The mission cameras capture the rock samples moving around in the interior of Liberty, revealing that the aliens are camouflaged as moon rocks. Increasingly delusional, Walker attempts to destroy the cameras within Liberty, but he accidentally damages the system controls, causing Liberty to depressurize. Realizing the Soviet LK is their only source of oxygen, the pair travel towards the LK lander in their lunar rover. Walker causes the vehicle to crash as he runs away, believing he should not leave the moon because of the risk of spreading the infection to Earth.
Anderson awakens and tracks Walker to the crater where they found the cosmonaut. Walker is pulled into the crater by the creatures. Anderson gives chase, but he is confronted by the aliens, and flees to the Soviet LK. Anderson uses its radio to contact USSR Mission Control who connect him to the Department of Defence. The deputy secretary informs Anderson that they cannot allow him to return to Earth, admitting they are aware of the situation and incorrectly believe he is also infected. Anderson manages to contact Grey and they make arrangements for Anderson to return to Freedom. Anderson prepares the lander for launch, but Walker arrives, revealing he had survived the alien encounter earlier. However, he is now completely psychotic and demands to be let in. When Anderson refuses to let him in, he tries to break the lander's window with a hammer. But before Walker can enter the vehicle, he is attacked by a swarm of the creatures inside his helmet, which cause his head to explode, killing him.
Anderson launches, but the DoD warns Grey that Anderson is infected and orders him to abort the rescue or communication will be cut off, without which the CSM will be unable to return to Earth. The lander's engines shut off as it enters orbit, and it is in free fall. Small rocks within the craft float in the air, some of which reveal themselves to be alien creatures. Anderson is attacked and actually infected by the creatures, preventing him from controlling the vehicle. Grey tells Anderson that he is moving too fast as the LK crashes into Freedom killing them both. The space footage ends abruptly.
The footage cuts to before the pilots' mission, showing them having a barbecue with friends and family. The "official" fate of the astronauts is given, describing them as having died in various accidents that left their bodies unrecoverable. An epilogue explains that many of the rock samples returned from the previous Apollo missions are now missing.

Review: Following the craze revived by "The Blair Witch Project" (it had been done before with movies like "Cannibal Holocaust" and "The Last Broadcast"), "Apollo 18" presents itself as footage of NASA's "last" voyage to the moon in the 1970s, showing us the "real" reason why we never went back.
SO I thought twice about seeing it, however I like sci-fi so had to watch.The plot is well covered in other reviews.Yes the style is different but it is in keeping with the moon landing and pictures taken at the time.
Its all filmed as though done through the hand-held moon cameras.Some reviews said actors were wooden but that is the whole point, they are supposed to be normal people (well as normal as any astronauts ) can be.The test for me is :-Would I watch it again, yes.
However, after seeing it tonight I'm happy to report that it's just what I expected :)I'm a fan of The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity and this film fits into that genre.The special effects are brilliant.
...and I hope the people next to me in the cinema couldn't hear me yawning, which I started doing after about half-way.These 'found footage' movies have varied over the years, since The Blair Witch Project kicked it all off.
However, i also have to admit that, given it's release date, I was a bit worried that it would wind up a stinker...I went in with adjusted expectations, wanting to enjoy it but also preparing for the worst..I'm happy to say that it winds up a pretty effective little conspiracy- theory chiller..The producers really do a great job of building tension in this closeted, isolated atmosphere, to an agonizing crescendo and then delivering with some truly horrific imagery.Really wound up liking this one..
I think that the film Apollo 18 is on some intermediate point between both extremes, because even though I found its screenplay absurd, repetitive and occasionally a bit tiring, it generally kept me moderately entertained because of the realism of its "verité" aesthetic and the attention to every detail shown on its production.The screenplay from Apollo 18 is something like an hybrid of Alien, Sunshine and Moon, even though with all the fantastic elements reduced in order to increment the realism from the story.
It was undoubtedly a good decision to pick unknown faces not to ruin the "realistic" premise, but I think they should have picked actors with more talent and charisma.Having said all that, I have to give Apollo 18 a slight recommendation because of its solid recreation of the lunar mission.
We did leave the theater feeling unsatisfied and just really underwhelmed.Our main issue with the movie was that astronauts are chosen for their intelligence (obviously) as well as their ability to hand extremely stressful situations, and the characters in this film failed at both of those things.
Add onto this major suspension of disbelief issue a lot of boring 'what the hell is going on' footage and very few actually suspenseful moments, and top it off with a really badly cg'd sequence at the end of the film that just flat out wasn't necessary, and you've got this movie.The acting wasn't bad, and the sets were fine, just the plot had trouble getting off the ground, kind of flopped around like a dying fish, then finally died.
I admit, it is not terribly scary, but it uses a fairly original (comparatively speaking) filming mechanic in the found footage style and is, aside from the space aliens, a believable film with good acting, very few historical inaccuracies, mostly natural dialogue and a good bit of tension.
Being admittedly biased in that I was more concerned whether they would remember that the astronauts had to depressurize as to not get the bends than whether it was frightening, I may give it a higher rating than most would think it deserves but I most definitely enjoyed myself.All in all it was a nice historical fiction about finding something sinister on the moon because of a continued space race, assuming you can respect a more minimal film on a modest budget.
Not for the faint hearted, it also amplifies the smallest and most rational of fears into something chilling and blood-curdlingly frightening, playing on the fear that something is wrong, something is out there.Although the film has its faults, namely near the end when the viewer is unsure as to which person's camera is being used, this can add to the feel of the film, reflecting the mindset of the equally disorientated characters.The film could be slightly more emotional than it is, but it is after all a horror.Leaving you with something to think about at the end gives the film an edge that makes you remember it for a while after.If you liked Paranormal Activity or Cloverfield, then this film is definitely for you, giving you a good dose of mind-jolting jumps when you least expect them.
pretty good movie tho not great.my goal is to give reviews that let u know what your in for, not nitpick and discuss film techniques,directors, or show my "expertise" in film making.
"Apollo 18" is a lame movie that uses the exhausted formula of finding footage and filmed in the standard of "The Blair Witch Project".
Upon seeing so many negative ones and so few positive ones, I knew I wanted to see it for sure since I liked The Blair Witch Project and both Paranormal Activity movies.
some jumps scene worked and some missed the mark a little.The acting was really good from small cast crew, the ending was really predicable.As I had low expectation of this movie, I found it much better then thought it was going be, not one of best Found footage movies, Decent movie for this genre 5 out of 10.
It was one of those "found footage" films like the Blair witch project and Paranormal Activity.I was expecting to be bored, but honestly after each passing minute in the film, it just got even more terrifying.
There are no major flaws in the story that I could detect, and while the movie does require attention on the part of the viewer to follow what's unfolding, it's hardly rocket science.The cinematography was fantastic, evoking a real sense of a moon mission, and as such, this is one of the few "found-footage" films (along with "REC") that provides the principles with a believable reason to document what occurs out-with the questionable "I-must-film-this-for-posterity" nonsense served up by the likes of "Cloverfield".The small cast do a sterling job, and I don't quite follow how some other reviewers found the characters "unlikeable".
I think it only help's in getting into the old feeling of the movie.The first part of the movie looks pretty much like a documentary about going to the moon, but hey, what would you expect.
The camera quality and way of filming really helps in feeling the fear of the astronauts.I read somewhere the last 10 minutes of this movie would be really shocking.
Well this actually started the last 15 minutes of the film, with in the beginning the scene's of terror really build op good, then it dies out (probably because I don't thought of the inhumane but necessary message the astronauts get as really shocking, it just seemed logic to me:) ) and then the last 8 minutes the terror gets back but unlike in the beginning of the last 15 minutes, now the scene's last a bit to long, but they are still very nice and frightening.Overall: a bit weird but nice movie, although i think you must be into the "going to the moon in the 70's" theme to really like it.(like I did).
Obviously 28% of the watchers are either employees and their friends and family, or seriously disturbed conspiracy theorists that are so committed to their conspiracy theory that they'll give thumbs up to a bad Blair Witch wannabe movie with no real entertainment value whatsoever, that actually makes viewers less likely to believe that there is any possibility of a moon/space conspiracy.Really.
A found-footage horror movie that purports to have been recovered from NASA's secret final moon mission in the early 1970s.
There's a nice sense of dread for quite a while in the film, and, like The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity, I was watching it with my eyes slightly averted from the screen.
Directed by Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego and produced by Timur Bekmambetov, the sci-fi horror centers around a fictional premise of an actual Apollo 18 mission that was launched in December 1974, that supposedly never returned and as a result, signified the real reason why the United States never commissioned another expedition to the Moon.
I really enjoyed watching Apollo 13, especially knowing the history of the real mission, so I've been very happy to see that they made another Apollo mission movie.Although is more a sci-fi than a history-based movie, the way they mixed real footage with actually filmed ones for Apollo 18 and the effort to keep the movie decent as far as the used technology concerns, is very clever and the result was much appreciated by me.
Before explaining my impressions, a brief summary: footage presumably found of a non previously known apollo mission and it's fate (Blair witch style of camera story).A lot of times, discrepancy comes along with certain movies.
The obvious errors (sound in space, the absence of lunar gravity effect on walking) doesn't have a mayor impact on the story.If you watch this movie for the purpose of entertainment, with the appropriate amount of ''suspension of disbelief'', you won't be disappointed, even though holds not very surprises o scares.
I am one for a good alien conspiracy and the moon has always interested me and no other film maker has made anything similar to this (apart from paranormal activity but thats only similar in the sense of the camera shots used).
This film is terrible, if you have seen paranormal activity 1 do not waste your time watching Apollo 18.
You will wish you had spent the time learning something new or feeding the cat.Its terrible.I hope they didn't pay the unknown actors a lot of money because they certainly didn't earn it.The acting is rather dull and the characters are one dimensional.You feel nothing towards them and you simply don't care if they live or die.The directing is none existent and the production is the same.In conclusion this movie should be left in the blackness of space never to reach any human hand ever again!.
Regardless, the very name makes clear that this is a conspiracy type movie, the point of which seems to be to explain why the United States gave up on moon missions after Apollo 17.
In fact, the movie makes the assertion that the United States DID return to the moon - that there was a secret Apollo 18, and that it was the events that happened during that mission and the loss of the crew that caused the United States to give up on lunar exploration."Apollo 18" is a kind of lunar-based "Blair Witch Project," filmed supposedly as the events are happening by a combination of hand-held and stationary cameras.
For me, this was a great concept movie split into 3 areas of dispute: (1) That a Saturn V rocket could be launched in secret, (2) that the Soviets successfully sent a mission or missions to the Moon despite Western propaganda to the contrary, and (3) aliens, or life forms indigenous to hostile Lunar conditions, can actually exist - if at least dangerous in parasitic form to human beings.
It displayed an original idea that I had not seen before in a movie and provided a good time at the theater 2: The Visual effects, While not that jaw dropping, were still pretty decent considering it was meant to look like it was recorded on a old Video camera.
It's a really good horror movie, it is filmed in a realistic way, so this makes it seem more real.
It takes a while to get used to because of the way it is filmed, the special effects are top notch, it really seemed like they were on the moon, and the film is very suspenseful but you have to watch it to understand because I don't want to give away any spoilers.Over all I thought it was a pretty good movie and is worth the time.
the so called special effects were no better than watching an episode of the muppets and the futile attempts to instill fear in the audience were laughable at no time was I on the edge of my seat screaming at the screen to tey and stop the cast form doing something they shouldn't At the end i realised that will be 3 hours ( oh thats right it wasn't that long - although it felt like it) I wont get back.
Just when you thought the found footage science fiction and horror subgenre would finally run out of steam with every possible story being told, here comes another that's set in the final frontier of space, and I admit it's kinda clever for writers Cory Goodman and Brian Miller to utilize this device in a conspiracy theory type story that deals with why there are no longer any more missions to put man on the moon again, barring budget constraints, with no lack of volunteers and astronauts on payroll.From the Blair Witch project involving discovered footage from a camera, there have been wannabes and variants, with some of the most notable being The Last Exorcism with a documentary crew following their subject for some investigative journalism, in the same way REC did it, and from Cloverfield's monster movie to the Paranormal Activity films which combine both the moving home camera with the static ones from CCTVs. After all from a movie making perspective most of these films are completed on a shoe-string budget and become profitable at the box office, and the challenge here is to create some original ideas to further milk this genre before they all truly run out and remakes are called into play.Apollo 18 takes one of the cancelled missions of NASA and gives a controversial, conspiracy type spin to why the crew never made it to the Moon, by suggesting that the crew actually did so, but a massive cover up put a lid on what had transpired, with official records fabricated to hide the truth from the public.
The most we get to know of the Apollo 18 crew was that they really liked their barbecue gatherings, and being called to finally get up there to the moon, in a mission sponsored by the Department of Defense, was a real honour, never mind if their project is more top secret and classified involving what they thought was installing cameras and sensors to detect Russian ICBM launches; cold war era, remember?By staying true to that era and the plot that the footage is real and found, we get a lot of grainy, full screen presentation with plenty of static, quick cuts (edited by the filmmaker from the hours of raw material it was claimed) to highlight that sense of dread and urgency in staying alive when all else seemed to have abandoned them and the mission.
The people complaining that this 'is not a movie' clearly didn't understand that the film is made in the same tone as other movies such as Blair Witch etc in that it's not a movie at all but rather a filming of apparent previously 'lost' and 'real' footage filmed by the astronauts on the last mission to the moon by the Americans.I won't give too much away but the idea of what this E.T. actually is was fantastic and something completely new and that fact that this alien life form has never been explored before is what makes it so great and makes the idea completely believable!
My only complaint is that it's only just over an hour long which considering the cost of a cinema ticket these days is a bit a cheek!Go and see this movie knowing that you will be seeing nothing but apparently footage made by the astronauts on the Apollo 18 mission and i promise you'll enjoy it if you enjoy being scared, but if you go in thinking you're going to see a Hollywood blockbuster horror / sci-fi movie then you'll be very disappointed!!.
Bearing absolutely NO resemblance to Blair Witch or Paranormal activity outside of the aggravating camera angles(my chief complaint), this movie showed great promise,but half the shots weren't of action they were of people shoes, crotches, and moon landscape jiggling up and down with a mess of blurry shots.
There are several aspects of the movie that I'll comment about.1) Camera workIt gets REALLY annoying after a while with all the fake film effects to make it look like the early 70s..even though the sound is perfect.
If your looking to watch a decent alien movie, I would say 'Attack the Block' would be a 10x better film then this.
The main reason I saw this was because I convinced my friend who I saw this with that it was real.And other than plain over-used tactics to scare the audience,dull antagonists(Rock spiders that oddly can breath in space with no air)and terrible ending, the film could have been pretty good with a good concept and great performances by the cast.
But let me just say one thing...This movie is not even close to be as good as Paranormal Activity or Cloverfield, like someone said.
A group of friend and I thought this would be a sure-fire good time before we set out on a Friday night.Don't believe the hype...This movie turned out to a bad 80 minute mix of 'John Carpenter's: The Thing' (gets better with age) and 'Blair Witch Project' (not so much) set on the Moon.