Apollo 18

Although officially, Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the moon, according to Gonzalo López-Gallego, a Spanish director making his first English language film, a year later in 1973 funded by the US Department of Defense three American astronauts were sent on a secret mission to the Moon.  What we see purports to be an edited version of the actual footage which the astronauts captured on that mission.

Although it did quite well at the box-office Apollo 18 was mercilessly pilloried by the critics on release and it is true that in the found-footage horror genre many holes can be picked in it, not least being an unimaginative dependency on Ridley Scott’s lost-in-space classic Alien (1979). Nevertheless in being an impressively authentic-looking depiction of a moon landing (as well as the astronauts-at-home and space station preparations) it raises question about the authenticity of the original Apollo 11 footage which is our bench-mark for such things.

Clearly, given the many references to the cameras used by the astronauts, the film-makers were aware of questions that dog the purported real Moon landing.  Not that they in any way explain how the cameras were set up, operated ,or even functioned in the completely different conditions of the Moon’s surface, and particularly in this case, given the tragic denouement of the mission, how anyone could possibly be in possession of the footage, let alone 84 hours of it.

Personally, due in part to an effectively creepy sound design, I found the alien creature stuff scary enough, especially since López-Gallego only gives us very brief glimpses of the little critters, leaving our natural squeamishness to do the rest but even if Apollo 18 may not satisfy hardcore horror fans, Moon-landing skeptics should find grist to their mill here.

FYI: The film is produced by Nightwatch (2005) director Timur Bekmambetov whose screenplay contest selected first timer screenwriter Brian Miller as its winner.

 

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