User Reviews

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. Through said footage, we follow the exploits of three American astronauts - two on the lunar surface and one in orbit above the moon - as they discover that the moon is hiding a terribly dark secret. Apparently, there's something already there which has nothing to do with either the Americans or the Russians, and it doesn't want us there... or maybe it does, but for unpleasant reasons. This is not a spoiler, by the way; the trailer reveals as much.

The pros of this movie include, first and foremost, that it's a rather unique idea for a story. Ever since man has first walked on the moon, there really has been no speculation of whether or not the moon supported life (and no, I still believe it doesn't), and ever since Apollo 17, there has been speculation on why we never returned (though it likely has more to do with time, money, and risk than anything else). Another pro is the film's realistic look; the lunar landscape appears realistic, and the special effects are convincing as well. As for the scares, they're plentiful without being overly so.

"Apollo 18" is not without its flaws, though. One thing that had me scratching my head is the high amount of gravity which was shown inside the lunar landing vessel. Contrary to popular belief, there IS gravity on the moon as well as between any two forms of mass, though it's not nearly as strong as what we would find on Earth. You can see the astronauts jumping at large distances while walking on the lunar surface, but not inside the lander. Secondly, I kind of wish they had developed the lunarian creatures a little more. The filmmakers use creative camera work to keep several things hidden, which does help add to the suspense, but I still think it would have helped things more to show the lunarians a little more. In spite of these flaws, the film kept my interest.

I see a lot of people hating this movie. While they have every right to, I'm kind of lost as to a reason why. No, "Apollo 18" isn't a great film, but it's not terrible, either. Just take it for what it is.

The best of the worst for Moon landing conspiracy fans. Many nonsense theories, but none has such support as with this film. Apart from that, quite enjoyable, with good claustrophobic views of the found footage genre and quite accurate imitations/simulations of the moonscape. -1 for ridiculous crab-like life forms found on a scape that doesn't support life. -1 for flashing recorded images which make the scenes tiring to watch. -1 for Russian moonlander. There weren't any. Otherwise, quite visually satisfying horror, given the constraints of the moonscape.

The previews made 'Apollo 18' seem as if it had some real promise. Secret mission to the moon, massive government cover-up, something unknown lurking on our nearest neighbor. 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. There were only four of us in the theater and we couldn't wait to leave, and the reason we lasted the length of the movie was to see if there was some deus ex machina that would save the film at the end...

But there wasn't...Worst movie I've seen in a theater!

If you want to bore yourself for 80 minutes, watch some grass grow and save yourself $10.

This is one of my favorite movies. Not for the action scenes or the story, but for the Conspiracy aspect. I love watching movies where the government screws over the main character. I'm not going to have the same opinion on this as everybody else but this movie is a gold mine for conspiracy. Why we went to the moon in the first place isn't clear at all, and this movie puts a sci-fi twist to the events on the moon. "There's a reason why we never went back" That is a awesome idea. If you are a fan of movies that get you thinking about real life events this is the perfect one for you. I can't get enough of the idea that we didn't go back because of E.T beings. Now I don't plan on getting into the idea of E.T. but who says we have to be the only beings in the universe? It's a big place, and the moon is the perfect setting. I also love the idea that when we brought back some of the alien rocks we gave them to foreign dignitaries, and that they were "stolen or lost"

Apollo 18 (2011) Directed by Gonzalo Lopez Gallego, and written by Brian Miller, Is a clever concept, A mocumentary about the last unreported Lunar landing. Spoiler Alert ahead, I Intend to talk about the film, What I liked; It very much captured the technology of the period, the film ratio was pure period nostalgia. Did we detect Super 8 on some of the home movies? Nice attention to detail. All the footage at the start mimicked the images we recall, they were uncannily set up in the studio, so as to intimate that the original footage we recall, might have thus been staged as well, but I digress.

No, there is a far more sinister plot about, The movie goes to great length to introduce us to the three Astronauts chosen for this top secret mission, Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen and Ryan Robbins play Ben, Nate and John. Good old, all American Team players. Ben and Nate would land on the Moon, and John would orbit in the return module. By the time we get to the first, "Wawazat?" The movie was already in decline.

OK, there was some degree of originality in the nature of the threat. Here's that spoiler alert, Keyword; Moonrocks. A mineral,slash Biological organism that wants the moon for its own. For an alien race, it seemed to understand human biology, enough to invade and infect a person, Ben is infected, Nate won't abandon him. It's all a DOD cover up. And now we know why we don;t go to the Moon anymore.Worse yet, there may be many of these phony Rock impersonators running amok down here on Mother Earth.

Downside of this movie; Standard Sci fi cliché's take one; Electronic surveillance cameras will go all static rather then reveal the monsters appearance.

In truth, the monster here never fully reveals itself nor it's motive; Sometimes its just a pointy rock, other times it seems like a biological parasite, and to top off the confusion, It leaves rather odd looking footprints. So how does this film rate, Fair to average, a clever idea pushed further than they knew what to do with. Seven out of Ten "Moonrock" stones, I mean Stars.

I had very high hopes for this film after seeing the trailer. However nothing could prepare me for the mind numbing boredom of what I was to endure. The "Found footage" aspect became rapidly became ridiculous after the first ten minutes when shots were edited seamlessly together from all the different cameras that were supposedly used. Apart from that obvious flaw the main thing that bothered me was that the film just was not scary. Over an hour into the film and nothing happens apart from some odd bangs and unexplained movements. The final 30 minutes seemed like an almost separate film as it felt tacked on to the end once they'd ran out of ideas. And the big finish they came up with?Crabs. Ooh terrifying space crabs!!! Scary stuff indeed. All the astronauts needed was some melted butter and a bit of lemon and problem solved. utter rubbish.

You're always concerned when there are a lack of reviews prior to a release and many may see this as a reason to avoid this film, however there is a lot to appreciate in this taught and claustrophobic horror.

The film uses many of the techniques cemented by Blair Witch so expect hand-cam action and, given its background, the footage is also filmed much like the moon landing footage. The reasons behind this are obvious as it allows the development team to avoid expensive special effects due to the quality of the footage.

Acting is also good. Given most main scenes are set in tight spaces the actors have to get the most out of their environments. They do this well, building on the feeling of being trapped by not one but two main enemies. In fact it is this doubt and then dawning realisation that they are simply pawns in a much bigger game which comes across best, and the growing understanding that they aren't going to be coming home.

Taking time to explain the reasons behind the mission, a reasonable launch date (to avoid prying eyes) and having obviously paid attention to footage from the other Apollo missions the plot moves well. There's enough going on at all times to keep you engaged.

In the end this is never going to be everyone's film. It's going to be compared to Blair Witch and will be disliked by those expecting a sci-fi effects fest. It isn't these things. It's just a well made horror/thriller that doesn't outlast its welcome.

Apollo 18 showed promise of a new age of found footage type film. Like the Paranormal Activity series which captured paranormal events on a video camera, Apollo 18 offered us a look at ''why we've never gone back to the moon.'' If the reasons are bad acting and literally no sign of a story line then I can see why.

This movie's plot - or lack of - show three generic American stereotypes who literally end up in Space, with generic American one and two going on the moon while three orbits around. After a slow build up things look as if they will pick up.

To be blunt they don't.

Footage of rocks moving in the background and footprints which are never explained this movie offers very little of anything to appease any sort of fan. It is like someone just put bits of unwanted bits of other films together and threw it in because this film has no basic plot at all.

Dire from the start.

Most people seem to hate the whole 'hand-held' horror movie. "Blair Witch", "Paranormal Activity". The majority of the people i encounter say they hate em'. I however, love the hell out of em'. They're new and original. They offer something fresh to the horror market, because let's face it, i'm tired of seeing the same damn thing over and over again. I mean for Christ sakes, they have 7 'Saw' movies, and 5 'Final Destinations'. And is that wasn't enough, they're remaking all the classics. No matter how many people hate on the concept, i will STILL go and see every single one.

Unlike the other 'hand held' horror movies i mentioned before, this movie takes a much more different approach with it's style of filming. Since this is 'so-called' recovered footage from 1974, it's very grainy, it's frame rate is very slow, and it's slightly damaged. From a third party perspective, that might sound intriguing, and in a way it is. But there were some portions of the movie that got kind of annoying with their jump cuts and white-out techniques. But once you pass the 30 minute mark of the movie, you start to get use to the style they're using and you don't notice it as much.

But the biggest problem i had with the movie was the story. You see, in 'Blair Witch', they at least gave you a bit of back-story to what was going on. This one is all assumption......which i HATE. You can get by with this technique if you were covering something else like ghost, or evil spirits. Even though we know nothing of the subject, we get an idea of what the main characters are dealing with. But when you're in an unfamiliar place like the moon, and you're dealing with alien creatures, you need to explain a little more, otherwise your audience is left scratching their heads. And in this case, i was scratching pretty damn hard. Mainly because i had no idea why they were there, what they were dealing with, and what the governments intentions were. Like i said, it was nothing but assumptions.

And speaking of assumptions, you're going to have to assume what these creatures actually look like, because you never get that FULL establishing shot of what they actually look like. You either get a quick 1/2 second glance, or the film is so damaged that you can't make out what's on screen.

Not only that, you never get the idea of how these creatures operate. What are their intentions? How do they live? What are they capable of? WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE ME SOME DAMN ANSWERS FOR THIS MOVIE!!! However, amidst all the confusion, there is one thing i did like, and that was the level of intensity. There were certain sequences that really had me going. Throughout the entire movie, they did nothing build up more and more. So of course, i was expecting this super grand horror finale'. But it ended in a pretty dull and abrupt fashion. And once again, left me with more assumptions.

Bottom Line......i appreciate the movie for it's different style of filmaking. But the overall plot had more holes than the moon has craters. I think if they explained more and brushed up on some of the annoying editing techniques, then this movie would have been something to marvel at. It was alright, i didn't hate it, but it's not the type of movie i'd go raving to my friends about.

I don't see why this film is so hated. I am a horror fan and i am a huge fan of the found footage horror films, like The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, REC and Paranormal Activity. And i have to say that Apollo 18 is another great found footage film. I know that with these films being marketed as real, people expect something different, but as all horror fans know by now, this isn't the case.

You can compare Apollo 18 to nearly all found footage horror films but that doesn't make the horror any less effective, there are some really good scare scenes in Apollo 18 that do make you jump quite a few times, which is something i have experienced since Paranormal Activity. Like Cloverfield the alien creatures are not fully revealed, we only see a few glimpses of the rock like creatures that do resemble crabs or spiders.

The acting is really good by the two cast members, and the storyline is simple but works really well. The tension does build throughout the film, and when they enter the dark shadows of the craters, it becomes unrelenting.

My only downside to the film is that it ended too soon, i believe that they could have ended it in a better way, but i still really enjoyed this film. If you are a fan of The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, or any other found footage horror film, then give this a try and don't be put off by the negative reviews. It is one of my favourite found footage films that i have seen.

*** This review contains lots of spoilers ***

Camera action right out of Blair witch. A boring story of three astronauts going on a secret mission that turns into a horror story with spiders. The spiders are more hinted at than actually shown. The camera problems were supposed to be '70s transmissions from space with lots of noise. Lots of noise that sounded like haunted house sounds. The noisy video actually ended up with several second of completely blank screen on more than one occasion. The spiders, who apparently morph into spiders from small rocks, managed to get under the skin (Alien like) of one of the astronauts. They find a Russian lunar lander and one dead Russian astronaut. They wonder out loud why there wasn't a second astronaut, but like most of the little mystery's in this movie they never tie that one up.

Perhaps there are those who like amateur (bad) camera work but it was used as a special effect in this movie to excess.

Skip this movie, go see Horrible Bosses again. Don't waste your money on this movie it will be available on DVD next week.

I fell asleep along with the 5 other people I went with. Worst EVER. For my theater waste of $9.00. The effects, are just sad. The beginning introducing themselves is the most unbearable thing I have ever seen. Do not go, the monsters are rocks which are little spiders. The fake blood must have been ketchup. The dead person was sooo fake. They are complete idiots. And a hint to the directors. There is no gravity, they walk normally. Whenever they show the rover moving it looks and seems like it is just a camera on another screen. This is a cheaply made movie and the actors oh god the actors. They suck with in every way. And to top it off I had terrible popcorn and flat soda.