'Apollo 18' looks to explain the reason we never went back [Video]
Armchair astronomers and space enthusiasts have long had a field day with why the U.S. government scrapped the Apollo 18 lunar mission as well as two other planned voyages to the moon. Budget limitations was one of the official reasons given. But Gonzalo Lopez Gallego's new movie suggests a different motive.
A mission did make the trip in 1973, Gallego's (fictional) film suggests, but some kind of horror-movie monster/virus attacked the astronauts, resulting in the U.S. never going back. Citing "unconfirmed intelligence," Gallego's movie, which was shot this winter in Vancouver, tracks the mission from its buoyant early days to its spine-tingling final ones.
The trailer for the found-footage film, with an appealingly grainy pseudo-historicity, hit a few days ago. (You can watch it below.) According to Dimension Films, which is set to release the movie on April 22, the trailer has already garnered more than 3 million hits on Apple.
Combining the conventions of science fiction and horror sometimes works ("The X-Files") and sometimes doesn't (Danny Boyle's "Sunshine"). Whether "Apollo" will be the "Blair Witch"-like hit Dimension hopes is unclear, but plenty of new theories (and some old ones) could come in its wake. And, of course, a potential "Apollo 19" sequel.
-- Steven Zeitchik
Looks ridiculous.
Posted by: Paleta Fresca | 02/24/2011 at 04:46 PM
Hmm... think we can get Buzz Aldrin to punch these guys?
Posted by: DrBear | 02/24/2011 at 05:47 PM
I thought we never REALLY ever landed there in the first place!
Posted by: Jules Verne | 02/25/2011 at 04:14 PM
Oh God, another 'found footage' film that will give me motion sickness. I think it's lazy filmmaking. Why not hire a real cinematographer and actually "film" a movie? Sheesh.
Posted by: fred | 02/25/2011 at 04:17 PM
Interesting concept, but it turns into some cheap, slasher-style movie.
The 'astronauts' look like dudes, not astronauts.
And the "UNTIL NOW" tagline . . . talk about hackneyed
Posted by: steve | 02/25/2011 at 04:18 PM
incredibly STUPID!!! its amazingly UNWATCHABLE!!!! not to mention the fact that Apollo 18 was laid to waste in a field just outside mission control in houston, and that Apollo 19 has been preserved in The Apollo Museum at KSC, this is nothing more than a crappy attempt to make money on an other wise great legacy!!! This just goes to prove that hollywood can still be counted on to produce nothing but CRAP!!!! I hope its a flop!!
Posted by: Borchy | 02/25/2011 at 04:19 PM
We never landed on the moon the first time... it was nothing but an elaborate hoax.
Posted by: socks | 02/25/2011 at 04:53 PM
Ooh yet another NASA conspiracy movie.
Posted by: chuck weiss | 02/25/2011 at 04:56 PM
cloverfield meets alien on the moon.
Posted by: Sophie | 02/25/2011 at 05:09 PM
What a waste of time and film.
Posted by: Zonker | 02/25/2011 at 05:19 PM
It seems these shots have been made in the same studio in which NASA recorded the alleged Apollo 11-17 missions.
Posted by: vlada | 02/25/2011 at 05:23 PM
its amazing to see how many people actually THINK Apollo never landed on he moon.... you people HAVE to live under rocks!!
Posted by: Borchy | 02/25/2011 at 06:10 PM
"Wildly original!"
"An edge-of-your-seat techno-thriller!"
"It's 'Blair Witch' meets 'Moon!'"
"More than terrifying!"
"What if it WERE true???"
"It's 'The Abyss' meets 'Moon' meets 'REC' meets 'Paranormal Activity' meets 'Blair Witch' meets 'Cloverfield' meets 'Quarantine' meets 'Capricorn One' meets 'Diary of the Dead.'
Posted by: Garbanzo Journalism | 02/26/2011 at 11:14 AM