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Apollo 18 (2011)
The idea that aliens are the reason that we've never gone back to the Moon is a relatively interesting one to me, and it seems like it would make a rather unique and effective horror movie. Apollo 18 attempts to put this conspiracy theory to film to disappointingly pitiful results. Apollo 18 suggests that the canceled Apollo 18 mission did actually land on the Moon, but it never returned for unknown reasons. The film is shot in the found-footage style, which is supposedly the lost footage from that mission. The crew of the Apollo 18 find evidence of extraterrestrial life on the moon and realize the real reason they were sent to the Moon. The Moon setting certainly makes this movie unique and makes the film rather unsettling, but that is the only creepy or memorable about this lazy and dull found footage schlock. Apollo 18 is actually rather entertaining for the first 20 or so minutes, as we hear strange, otherworldly sounds coming from outside the ship. It's very reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, until the reveal of the aliens. They don't have much screen time, but when you do see them, it completely ruins the sense of mystery and becomes just another alien horror flick. The first sighting of the extraterrestrials ruined a potentially creepy and memorable scene in which one of the astronauts is screaming that something is "moving around in his helmet." That's also where the movie takes a huge nose-dive and transforms into a generic body-horror film. What makes the movie even more insufferable is the incredibly bland writing. None of the characters have an sort of personality, and the dialog couldn't be any more uninteresting unless Ben Stein was delivering the lines. Apollo 18 could have been the science-fiction equivalent to The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity, but instead is just another tedious and uninspired shaky-cam headache.
2/10
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