Review by CJ

Director:
Gonzalo López-Gallego

Starring:
Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen, Ryan Robbins

Running time:
86 minutes

Watch this if you liked:
Every other found footage horror film

The cancelled Apollo 18 mission is reactivated by the Department of Defense and this is footage from that mission.

Found footage horror films are the new plague of the cinematic art form. Too many of them try to recreate War of the Worlds and The Blair Witch Project in convincing people that they are real found footage. Apollo 18 tries to do the same but falls flat.

I found Apollo 18 to be boring even when the “action” was happening. I checked the time at one point when I thought I must be getting close to the conclusion. Had not even hit the half-way mark yet. When browsing the horror films, I thought 86 minutes was a perfectly acceptable length for a space horror movie. Time is relative, dear reader. Time. is. relative.

The reveal of the reason man “never returned to the moon” was underwhelming. I had it picked from the moment the astronauts were collecting rock samples. It wasn’t even the good predictable where you think how cool it is that you were right.

[Spoiler paragraph]

One issue that I have with found footage films is that most of them end with everyone dying. While I don’t expect horror movies to have fairytale endings, it does make them quite predictable. Once again, Apollo 18 is not the exception to the rule. 

[End spoiler paragraph]

I am disappointed by the result of Apollo 18. I loved the idea behind the film. I feel it would have been done far more justice as a proper science-fiction horror film instead of a found footage film.

If you want to watch a film about the horrors of space, watch Aliens. It’s about as factual and much more entertaining. Game over, man. Game over.

Rating: 1/5

“Fate has ordained the men who went to the moon to explore in peace, remain on the moon to rest in peace.”