A thin but fairly diverting entry in the low-fi fake-umentary horror genre, "Apollo 18" explains what's really on the moon and why the U.S. space program decided against further study. Why? Because a "Blair Witch Project" filmmaking seminar set up camp there first, that's why!
Spanish director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego's exercise in "found" footage scares was produced by Timur Bekmambetov, who directed the popular assassins' melee "Wanted," which I hated. I didn't hate this one at all.
Like "Blair Witch" and the "Paranormal Activity" pictures, "Apollo 18" offers zero characterization and very little narrative. It's only about its own DIY aesthetic taken to extremes, and to the limit of the audience's interest and patience.
Many will find "Apollo 18" silly and derivative. It is. Yet it's also a break from the usual hyperbolic, down-your-throat brand of silly and derivative scare movies.
Under cloak of super-secrecy, three astronauts played by Lloyd Owen and Warren Christie and a third, uncredited actor -- that's how super-secret the mission is -- embark on a moon mission to plant some sort of anti-missile defense system before the Russkies do. The time is 1974. But there's something up there besides the remnants of something human. I will say no more about it. The movie, written by Brian Miller, contains only a wee handful of surprises.
Post-"Blair Witch," it's remarkable anyone can pull out these old home-movie and security-camera tropes to any sort of decent result. The reason, I think, the "Paranormal Activity" films in particular succeed is simple. They take their time before sticking it to you. Precious little in our popular culture today takes time for, or with, anything.
"Apollo 18" cannot satisfactorily answer the question "Wait -- who's supposed to be filming this part?" Yet Lopez-Gallego handles the sequences set inside one of the moon's craters well enough to suggest he may have a lot of talent, some of which is on view in this green-cheese outing.
