''Apollo 18'' is a 2011
American-Canadian
American Canadians are Canadians of American descent. The term is most often used to refer to Canadians who migrated from or have ancestry from the United States.
Demography
According to the 2016 Census, 29,590 Canadians reported American as ...
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
written by Brian Miller, directed by
Gonzalo López-Gallego
Gonzalo López-Gallego (born 27 June 1973) is a Spanish film director who is best known for his movie '' Apollo 18'', a 2011 sci-fi thriller and horror film starring Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen, and Ryan Robbins.
Filmography
*'' The King o ...
, and co-produced by
Timur Bekmambetov
Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov (, ; ; born June 25, 1961) is a Russian-Kazakhstan, Kazakh film Film director, director, Film producer, producer, screenwriter, and tech entrepreneur. He is best known for the fantasy epic ''Night Watch (2004 fi ...
and Michele Wolkoff. A Canadian-American co-production, its premise is that the
cancelled Apollo 18 mission actually landed on the Moon in December 1974, but never returned, and as a result the United States has never launched another expedition to the Moon. The film is shot in
found-footage style, supposedly "lost footage" of the Apollo 18 mission that was only recently discovered.
''Apollo 18'' is López-Gallego's first English-language film. After various release date changes, the film was released in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada on September 2, 2011. However, the release dates for other territories vary.
The film received mostly negative reviews, with most critics comparing it negatively to ''
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...
'', ''
The Blair Witch Project
''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (director), Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Mic ...
'' and ''
Alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
''.
Plot
In December 1974 (two years after the
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...
mission), the crew of the cancelled Apollo 18 mission is informed that it will now proceed as a top secret
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
(DoD) mission to deliver a classified payload.
Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
Nathan Walker,
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
John Grey, and
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Ben Anderson are launched, at night, toward the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
to place an early warning detector for
ICBM
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...
attacks from the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
.
Grey remains in orbit aboard the
Apollo command module
The Apollo command and service module (CSM) was one of two principal components of the United States Apollo spacecraft, used for the Apollo program, which landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. The CSM functioned as a mother ship ...
''Freedom'' while Walker and Anderson land on the South Pole of the Moon in the
Apollo Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...
''Liberty,'' on December 25. While planting the ICBM detector, the pair take rock samples which Anderson describes as feeling "strange". In the background, the camera captures a rock moving in a nearby crater. After returning to ''Liberty'', the pair hear noises outside and the motion sensor camera captures a small rock moving nearby. Houston claims the noises are interference from the ICBM detector. The next day, Anderson finds a rock sample on the floor of ''Liberty'' despite having secured the samples. During their ICBM detector set-up, Anderson discovers footprints that lead them to a bloodstained and abandoned (but still functional) Soviet
LK lander. Anderson explores a nearby crater, describing the ground as "feeling softer". Inside the crater, he finds a
dead cosmonaut as well as a broken space helmet. Walker queries Houston about the Soviet presence, but he is told only to continue with the mission. While they are sleeping, Walker is woken by strange noises and something bumping into the lander.
The following day, the pair find that the flag they had planted is missing. Having completed their mission, the duo prepares to leave, but the launch is aborted when ''Liberty'' suffers violent shaking. An inspection reveals extensive damage to the module. Walker finds their shredded flag nearby; the motion sensor camera is also missing, and the rover tipped on its side. He then finds non-human tracks outside ''Liberty'', and cites them as evidence of
extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...
. Walker feels something moving inside his spacesuit and is horrified as a spider-like creature crawls across the inside of his helmet; he disappears from view and Anderson finds him unconscious outside of ''Liberty''. Walker later denies the events. A wound is discovered on his chest, and Anderson removes a
Moon rock
Moon rock or lunar rock is rock originating from Earth's Moon. This includes lunar material collected during the course of human exploration of the Moon, and rock that has been ejected naturally from the Moon's surface and landed on Earth as ...
embedded within him. After having removed the rock, Walker smashes it with a hammer, contaminating the ship. The pair find themselves unable to contact Houston or Grey due to increased levels of interference from an unknown source.
Anderson speculates that the true purpose of the "ICBM warning device" is to monitor the aliens, and that it is the source of the interference. Anderson and Walker attempt to switch the device off, only to discover it has been destroyed, with the same non-human tracks surrounding it. Walker shows signs of a developing infection, such as vein discoloration (possibly caused by
necrosis
Necrosis () is a form of cell injury which results in the premature death of cells in living tissue by autolysis. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, or trauma which result in the unregulated dige ...
) and
blood-shot eyes, and he becomes contentious and paranoid. The mission cameras capture a rock sample moving around in the interior of ''Liberty'', revealing that the aliens are camouflaged as Moon rocks. Increasingly delusional, Walker attempts to destroy the cameras within ''Liberty'' with a hammer, but he accidentally damages other controls, causing ''Liberty'' to depressurize. Realizing the Soviet LK lander is their only source of oxygen, the pair travel to the LK lander in their
Lunar rover
A lunar rover or Moon rover is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of the Moon. The Apollo Program's Lunar Roving Vehicle was driven on the Moon by members of three American crews, Apollo 15, 16, and 17. Other rov ...
. Walker becomes agitated, believing he should not leave the Moon because of the risk of spreading the infection to Earth, and causes the rover to crash. As the rover crashes, the camera catches glimpses of the large space rocks, which begin to grow legs similar to that of
spiders
Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species dive ...
.
Anderson awakens and tracks Walker to a crater. Walker is pulled into the crater by the creatures. Anderson gives chase, but he is confronted by the aliens, and flees to the Soviet LK and uses its radio to contact USSR Mission Control, who connect him to the Department of Defense. The
Deputy Secretary informs Anderson that they cannot allow him to return to Earth, admitting they are aware of the situation and incorrectly believe he is also infected. Anderson manages to contact Grey and they make arrangements for Anderson to return to ''Freedom''. Anderson prepares the lander for launch, but Walker arrives, revealing that he survived the alien encounter and demanding to be let in. However, he is now completely psychotic and when Anderson refuses to let him in, he tries to break the lander's window with a hammer. Before Walker can enter the vehicle, he is swarmed with rock aliens which break his helmet open and kill him; his body is dragged away by a much larger alien rock.
Anderson launches, but the DoD tells Grey that Anderson is infected, and orders him to abort the rescue or ground communication (without which the CSM will be unable to return to Earth) will be cut off. The lander's engines shut off as it enters orbit; while it is in free fall, small rocks within the craft float in the air, some of which reveal themselves to be rock aliens. Anderson is attacked and infected by the rock aliens, preventing him from controlling the vehicle. Grey warns Anderson that he is approaching too fast, and the footage ends abruptly, implying that the LK and ''Freedom'' collided.
The film concludes with a statement giving the "official" fate of the astronauts, describing them as having been killed in various jet accidents that left their bodies unrecoverable. An epilogue notes that many of the hundreds of rock samples returned from the previous Apollo missions, given t
dignitaries are now missing.
Cast
*
Warren Christie
Hans Warren Christie (born 4 November 1975) is a British-Canadian television and film actor known for his roles as Ray Cataldo on the ABC drama '' October Road'' and as Aidan "Greggy" Stiviletto on the ABC series '' Happy Town''. More recently ...
as Lunar Module Pilot Captain Benjamin "Ben" Anderson
*
Lloyd Owen
Richard Marcus Lloyd Owen (born 14 April 1966) is an English actor. Trained at the National Youth Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, he is known for portraying Indiana Jones's father Professor Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. i ...
as Commander Nathan "Nate" Walker
*
Ryan Robbins
Ryan John Currier (born November 26, 1972), better known as Ryan Robbins, is a Canadian actor.
Early life
Robbins was born in Victoria, British Columbia.
Career
Robbins is known for his roles as Ladon Radim in ''Stargate Atlantis'', Henry F ...
as Command Module Pilot Lieutenant Colonel John “Johnny” Grey
*
Andrew Airlie
Andrew Airlie (born September 18, 1961) is a Scottish-born Canadian actor.
Early life
Airlie was born in Glasgow, Scotland on September 18, 1961.
Career
He has starred in television series including ''Breaker High'' and his TV credits include g ...
as CAPCOM (Thomas Young)
*
Michael Kopsa
Michael Kopsa (January 22, 1956 – October 23, 2022) was a Canadian actor.
Kopsa was best known for his role as Char Aznable in the English dub of ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' and for his role as Commander Volcott O'Huey in ''Galaxy Angel''. He als ...
as Deputy Secretary of Defense
Production
''Apollo 18'' was shot in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. However, it has been promoted as a "found footage" film that does not use actors. In an interview with ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'',
Dimension Films
Dimension Films is an American film production company owned by Lantern Entertainment. It was formerly used as Harvey and Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993, to produce and relea ...
head
Bob Weinstein
Robert Weinstein (born October 18, 1954) is an American film producer. He is the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company, all of which he co-founded with his older brother, Harvey. He ...
"balk
dat the idea" that the film was a work of fiction, stating that "We didn't shoot anything; we found it. Found, baby!"
The
Science & Entertainment Exchange provided a science consultation to the film's production team. NASA was also "minimally involved with this picture," but declined to go further with the project.
The film concludes with a statement that the Nixon Administration gave away hundreds of Moon rocks to
foreign dignitaries around the world, and that many of these Moon rocks have been lost or stolen. This is actually true; both the Nixon and Ford Administrations gave away 135 Apollo 11 Moon rocks and 135 Apollo 17
goodwill Moon rocks. The Moon Rock Project, a joint effort of over 1,000 graduate students started at the University of Phoenix in 2002, has helped track down, recover or locate many Moon rocks and found that 160 are unaccounted for, lost or destroyed. In 1998, a sting operation called Operation Lunar Eclipse recovered the Honduras Apollo 17 goodwill Moon rock.
The film is distributed by Dimension Films.
Alternate endings and deleted scenes
Sixteen deleted scenes and four alternate endings are included in the DVD releases.
Other deleted scenes have also surfaced that were included in some of the trailers.
Deleted scenes
A single deleted scene details the fate of the Russian cosmonaut. He is killed when an alien breaks his helmet visor.
Other deleted scenes show two alternate versions of the dead cosmonaut.
Version 1: Walker and Anderson find the cosmonaut's helmet but no Soviet ship. They then find the cosmonaut's body dragged many meters away.
Version 2: The same as the first but the cosmonaut is partially buried.
Another alternate scene shows Anderson leaving a picture of his family on the surface as he swears that he will get home. As he does, the rocks aliens begin to stalk him. Anderson spots the Soviet lander in the distance and narrowly makes it inside as the aliens chase after him.
In another deleted scene, Grey survives the ordeal and argues with a DoD official back on Earth, who reveals that the astronauts were sent to the Moon to get infected and return to Earth so the United States could use the alien venom as a
Bioweapon
A biological agent (also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon) is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterrorism ...
against the Soviet Union, which is conducting human experiments with the venom.
Alternate endings
In the first ending, Anderson is in the LK after being attacked by Walker. Anderson is surrounded by the aliens as the LK loses oxygen, and he dies. An alien then leaves the shot.
In the second ending, Anderson is talking with DoD in the LK and sees the veins in his arms turning black, showing he is infected. The infection overtakes him, and he begins to smash the control panel in rage before breaking the camera, leaving his fate unknown.
In the third ending, Anderson is in the LK, with the aliens trying to break in. Suddenly, a large alien breaks the window of the LK and kills Anderson with a pincer.
In the fourth and final ending, an infected Anderson is in the LK. An alarm begins to sound as the lander plummets back to the Moon. The LK impacts with the surface of the Moon.
Release
''Apollo 18'' was released on September 2, 2011, in multiple countries. Originally scheduled for February 5, 2010, the film's release date was moved ten times between 2010 and 2011.
Home media
The film was released December 27, 2011, on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
,
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
, and
online
In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...
. Special features include an
audio commentary
An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
with director López-Gallego and editor Patrick Lussier,
deleted and alternate scenes and endings, including footage of how the Russian cosmonaut died and 4 alternate deaths of Ben Anderson.
Reception
''Apollo 18'' has received mostly negative reviews from critics. On the online reviews site
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film was given "rotten" score based on reviews, with an average rating of and the consensus: "A boring, suspense-free ''
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...
'' rip-off that feels long even at just 90 minutes."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which gives an aggregate score between 0 and 100, gives the film a 24 based on 19 critic reviews, which indicates "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "D" on an A+ to F scale.
Conversely, Fred Topel of
CraveOnline
Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male- ...
gave the film a positive review, saying that the film "will shock you to your core" and that the last 10 minutes "are the most exciting of any summer movie, and without motion capture effects."
"Review: 'Apollo 18′"
CraveOnline
Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male- ...
, September 2, 2011
Box office
At the end of its run in 2011, ''Apollo 18'' had earned $17,687,709 domestically, plus $8,548,444 overseas for a worldwide gross of $26,236,153 against a $5 million budget, becoming a financial success. In its opening weekend, ''Apollo 18'' screened in 3,328 theaters and opened in number 3, earning $8,704,271, with an average of $2,615 per theater. In its second weekend, the film earned $2,851,349, dropping 62.7%, with an average of $856 per theater, dropping to number 8, but still had a higher total gross at that point over ''Shark Night 3D
''Shark Night'' (advertised as ''Shark Night 3D'') is a 2011 American horror film directed by David R. Ellis and written by Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg. It stars Sara Paxton, Chris Carmack, Katharine McPhee, Alyssa Diaz, Dustin Milligan, a ...
'', another horror film opening the same weekend as ''Apollo 18''.
See also
* Moonfall (film)
''Moonfall'' is a 2022 science fiction disaster film co-written, directed, and produced by Roland Emmerich. It stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, and Donald Sutherland. It follows two ...
, 2022 movie with a similar plot
* Europa Report
''Europa Report'' is a 2013 American science fiction film directed by Sebastián Cordero and written by Philip Gelatt. It stars Christian Camargo, Anamaria Marinca, Michael Nyqvist, Daniel Wu, Karolina Wydra, and Sharlto Copley. A found foota ...
* Moon landing conspiracy theories in popular culture The notion that the Apollo Moon landings were hoaxes perpetrated by NASA and other agencies has appeared many times in popular culture. Not all references to Moon landing conspiracy theories are in support of them, but the ideas expressed in them h ...
* '' The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks''
* Moon in fiction
The Moon has appeared in fiction as a setting since at least classical antiquity. Throughout most of literary history, a significant portion of works depicting lunar voyages has been satirical in nature. From the late 1800s onwards, science fict ...
References
External links
*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Apollo 18
2011 films
2011 horror films
18 film
American science fiction horror films
American alternate history films
Canadian alternative history films
Films about astronauts
Films about space hazards
Films about the Apollo program
Films about extraterrestrial life
Films set in 1974
Films shot in Vancouver
Found footage films
American independent films
Canadian independent films
Dimension Films films
2010s science fiction horror films
Canadian science fiction horror films
Bazelevs Company films
Lunar modules
2010s English-language films
Films directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego
2010s American films
2010s Canadian films