Apollo 18 (2011)

Decades-old found footage from NASA's abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where two American astronauts were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason the U.S. has never returned to the moon.

Director:

Gonzalo López-Gallego

Writer:

Brian Miller

Stars:

Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen, Ryan Robbins

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Warren Christie	...	Ben Anderson
Lloyd Owen	...	Nate Walker
Ryan Robbins	...	John Grey
Michael Kopsa	...	Deputy Secretary of Defense (as Mike Kopsa)
Andrew Airlie	...	Mission Control
Kurt Max Runte	...	Lab Tech #1 (as Kurt Runte)
Jan Bos	...	Lab Tech #2
Kim Wylie	...	Laura Anderson
Noah Wylie	...	Ryan Anderson
Ali Liebert	...	Nate's Girlfriend
Erica Carroll	...	John's Fiancée

Storyline

Decades-old found footage from NASA's abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where two American astronauts were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason the U.S. has never returned to the moon.

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Plot Keywords:

found footage | nasa | moon | astronaut | spaceship | 

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Taglines:

There's a reason we've never gone back to the moon.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some disturbing sequences, and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 September 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Apolo 18

Filming Locations:

Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,704,271 (USA) (2 September 2011)

Gross:

$17,683,670 (USA) (11 November 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Bekmambetov Projects Ltd. (BPL), Apollo 18 Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS (as Datasat Digital Sound) SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was shot using old camera lenses from the 70s.

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Goofs

The film does not state that the far side of the Moon never receives sunlight. The astronauts are not on the far side of the Moon. The comment about areas that never receive sunlight was about areas at the bottom of deep craters where the ground is always in the shadow of the crater wall. This does occur in many areas near the Moon's polar regions, which is where this movie takes place.

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Quotes

Nate: Get it out. It's so cold. Get it out, Ben. Get it out, get it out! Damn it Ben get it out!

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Connections

Referenced in South Park: Ass Burgers (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Xmas Carol"
Written by Alla Sirenko
Courtesy of ZFC Music & MusicHouse

User Reviews

In space, no one can hear you yawn....

...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. I had mixed feelings about that, but overall I felt it was an effective chiller: what's NOT seen is often so much scarier. Cloverfield, for me, remains at the top of the list, while the PA films are way down.

Apollo 18 isn't far from the bottom, either. The premise was intriguing, and I genuinely expected some sort of development in the genre - something like a cross between Blair Witch and Alien. What I got was 90 minutes of predictability and disappointment. The sense of isolation and claustrophobia was well done, but little else. I felt some sense of a tension build-up for perhaps a half-hour - but then it dissipated once the nature of the 'horror' became apparent.

I came away feeling that here was a great opportunity missed. It's worth seeing for the technical excellence and attention to detail. Just don't expect to see anything new - or anything that'll frighten the pants off you.