Apollo 18 DVD Movie Review
Apollo 18 DVD Movie Review
Directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, starring Lloyd Owen and Warren Christie and Ryan Robbins.
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Well, guess what? The found-footage horror genre has finally jumped the shark ala Leprechaun 4: in Space and Jason X, with Apollo 18. Apollo 18 is an absymal low-budget wannabe shocker about inquiring astronauts who find unexpected things on the moon (personally, I wish they would’ve encountered a lost reel from Le Voyage dans la lune, or Alice Kramden)… but not before they bore us to tears with preamble and poor acting. Then, after all that, we’re left scratching our heads wondering how on earth this footage could ever have been found in the first place. Not a very well-thought out plot, this. (Then again, it’s got to be pretty hard to not paint oneself into the proverbial corner – even if there are no actual corners on the moon – when held to the limitations of a story such as this.)
The legend upon which the story is predicated is, of course, Apollo 17, a manned mission to the moon launched December 17th, 1972 and believed to be the last trek. But a year later, American astronauts are sent on a top secret assignment funded by the US Department of Defense… this one is actually the final foray into outer space and what they found there is supposedly the reason it’s the last. And, hopefully, Apollo 18 is also the last movie like this we’ll have to see.
With production values not much better than 1964’s Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, we are cramped in close quarters with commander Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen), lunar pilot Benjamin Anderson (Warren Christie) and command module pilot John Grey (Ryan Robbins), who, of course stumble upon some scary stuff on the surface of the moon. This scary stuff includes, but is not limited to: a secret Soviet mission, a spider-like man-eating monster, and a hammer that’s wielded in the most wicked of ways.
Tedium sets in soon, and is never rectified as we continue to follow heroes we never really get to know or care about, watching them first reacting to the old go-to bugaboo, a mysterious “virus”, which then mutates into a many-legged crater-critter that ‘chases’ then around tiny, cheap prefab sets, shaking the walls as they go. (Think: Forbidden Planet, only not funny and sadly lacking Sid Haig.)
As the tagline says, “There’s a reason we’ve never gone back to the moon.” There’s also a reason to never watch this movie.
Extras on the DVD:
Commentary with Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego & Lloyd Owen & Warren Christie
Making of Apollo 18 with cast interviews
Deleted and Extended Scenes
Theatrical Trailer
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson