Review: As any film fan already knows there has been a boom of "found footage" films really ever since the Blair Witch craze that happened many years ago. In the case of this film instead of zombies or paranormal themes this film takes on space exploration.In particular the Apollo missions they ran from 1961 to 1972 and ended at Apollo 17, but this film goes with the plot that there was an Apollo 18 mission and the found footage this film is made of is the reason why we never went back to the moon again. Which I think this film did a great job of portraying that.
Now there is a pretty big hole in the plot that I could only find out of the whole film and that is, how did anyone get ahold of the footage if we never went back and alot of the footage was done on cameras that did not transmit a signal to earth? Other than that they did an amazing job at making this film feel and seem realistic. Everything from the props to the suits to the sets they all are so damn realistic and very well crafted. Especially that of the moon set which was so realistic looking it's scary.
One of the best things this film does is it works more on suspense that leads to a very intense and climatic ending that left me floored, which hasn't happened since my first viewing of The Mist. Also like the classic film Alien this film also doesn't just throw a bunch of creatures at you early in the film, it works it's way up to the reveal and then hits you hard. Like you would expect when they do show the creatures they are done with CGI which works fine and they don't keep them on screen for too long in their scenes which works because if they were on the screen too long it would of killed the scene.
When I spoke of how they made it look authentic I was also talking about the look of the film. They basically used a variety of cameras and many techniques to make the film look damaged. For the most part Apollo 18 was filmed with a 16mm HD camera, which does help to give the right look. Now one thing I can say that I won't ever agree with other reviewers on is when they say this film is too slow and boring. To me it is far from that and is quite superior to crappy found footage films like Paranormal Activity. Apollo 18 keeps a steady pace and really gets moving as the film gets deeper and deeper in. Also you get a way better feeling of suspense added with a claustrophobic feeling that truly makes this film terrifying.
This is basically a film that you will most likely like if you enjoyed any "found fottage" film, but if you don't then you simply will hate it and not get it. Overall this is a great film that does deserve a better response that what it has gotten! There is 2 things I need to also mention and that is there is a couple of alternative ending in which I still prefer the one they used, but the others are worth checking out. Secondly I highly suggest you watch the film with the audio commentary the second time of watching it, it's very informative!
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego
Genre: Horror/Sci-fi
Blu-Ray/DVD Release Year: 2011
Theatrical Release Year: 2011
Time Length: 87 mins.
Company: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Website:
www.anchorbayent.com
