Ever since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT "lost footage" movies have become a genre unto themselves. Some have done well at the box office, some have received no notice and others just exist. Then there are films like APOLLO 18 that use the device well but just sit there.
APOLLO 18 is supposed to be comprised of footage that was secreted away after the failed expedition to the moon. So secret was the mission that the blast off was hidden as a mission to launch a satellite rather than a trip to the moon. Even the astronaut's families weren't told they were going to the moon.
All goes well at first. The team gets into space without a problem. The two man team landing on the moon's surface have a bit of difficulty but manage to land without a hitch. The moon rover works fine and they collect samples without error. But something goes wrong eventually.
The two men on the surface come across another space ship on the moon. This one is Russian and something happened. To begin with, no one knew that this ship was here or even that the Russian's launched a moon expedition. Secondly, the interior of the ship has been trashed. After a bit of searching, the pair follows footsteps that lead them to the dead cosmonaut, his suit ripped and his helmet smashed.
Other odd things happen as well. A moon rock supposedly locked away in storage is found in the landing module. The flag they planted disappears. And eventually one of the astronauts comes down with some space disease where he sees things and is wounded.
What could have been a film that makes you wonder are they really seeing things or are they hallucinating becomes instead a movie that lets you have glimpses that yes indeed, there are creatures on the moon. These start with things we viewers see in the periphery of the cameras lens, items that are just at the rims of our visibility. Something moves or something falls and while the main characters aren't aware we most certainly are.
Eventually the question is posed will NASA try to bring these men back or leave them stranded in space? Will they allow them to die fearing what they might bring back to Earth or will they rescue them?
As with another lost footage film, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, this one plays off the spooks of being stranded in a world where you have no control over what's happening around you. Unlike that film it doesn't really scare you or make you jump with the exception of one loud noise that surprises you. Whoopee.
Confined to a small cabin and a few feet of the moon's surface, the movie feels cramped and stagnant like the air in the capsule. It doesn't offer enough scares to frighten and doesn't develop the characters enough to make you feel concern for their plight. Sure we see scenes of them with their families at the beginning but since it was more like home movies we don't get enough chance to form a bond with them. In so doing we end up just not caring.
At the end of the day APOLLO 18 just doesn't hold up. It never holds your interest enough. The scares just aren't scary. The "real life footage" feels repetitive and the items at the edges make you feel more like you're playing Where's Waldo rather than seeing some creature in a space capsule.
If you feel the need to see all movies that qualify as horror or all movies that are the "lost footage" genre, then you'll want to rent this one. If not there are plenty of other good movies worth renting. Long before the end of this one I could tell that it was one I'd never watch again.
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