Apollo 18 (film)

Apollo 18 is a 2011 found footage science fiction horror film^[3] written by Brian Miller, directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, and co-produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Michele Wolkoff. An American-Canadian co-production, its premise is that the cancelled Apollo 18 mission actually landed on the Moon in December 1974, but never returned.

Apollo 18 is López-Gallego's first English-language film. After various release date changes, it was released in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada on September 2, 2011.^[4] The film received mostly negative reviews, with most critics comparing it negatively to Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project and Alien.

Two years after the Apollo 17 mission, the crew of the cancelled Apollo 18 mission consisting of Commander Nathan Walker, Lieutenant Colonel John Grey, and Captain Ben Anderson are informed that it will proceed as a top-secret Department of Defense (DoD) mission to place an early warning detector on the Moon for ICBM attacks from the USSR.

Grey remains aboard Apollo command module Freedom while Walker and Anderson land in Apollo Lunar Module Liberty to plant the detector. Anderson takes back rock samples and the two return to Liberty. The samples cause small disturbances, which Houston attributes to interference from the detector. The next day, Anderson discovers footprints that lead them to an abandoned but functioning Soviet LK lander. They discover a crater with a dead cosmonaut, to which Houston dismisses Walker's queries. While sleeping, Walker is awakened by strange noises and an object bumping into the lander.

Walker and Anderson complete the mission and prepare to leave, but the launch is aborted when Liberty suffers violent shaking, which they discover is a result of damaged foil. Nearby, they find non-human tracks outside the Liberty alongside damaged equipment. Walker is horrified at a spider-like creature that has entered his spacesuit and disappears before Walker finds him unconscious near Liberty, which Walker later denies happening. Later, Anderson removes a Moon rock embedded in Walker. Walker smashes the rock, contaminating the ship. Due to interference from an unknown source, the two are unable to contact Houston or Grey.

Anderson speculates that the device is meant to monitor the aliens and that it is the source of the interference. They attempt to deactivate the device but find it destroyed. Walker begins to become contentious and paranoid, and they discover that the aliens are camouflaged as Moon rocks. In an attempt to destroy the cameras inside Liberty, Walker destroys other controls, causing the ship to depressurize. While traveling to the Soviet LK lander to get oxygen, Walker intentionally crashes the rover, believing that he will spread the infection on Earth if he were to return.

Anderson awakens and finds Walker getting pulled into a crater by the aliens. Anderson fails to rescue him and flees to the Soviet LK. He uses the radio to contact the USSR Mission Control, who connect him to the DoD. The Deputy Secretary informs Anderson that they cannot allow him to return to Earth, admitting that they are aware of the situation and incorrectly believe that he is also infected. Grey contacts Anderson, and they plan to return him to Freedom. As Anderson prepares to launch, Walker suddenly appears and demands to be let in before being suddenly swarmed by the aliens, who kill him. Anderson launches, but the DoD informs Grey that he is to abort the rescue, or they will not allow him to return either.

The LK enters orbit and, while in free fall, the aliens attack and infect Anderson. Anderson is unable to control the ship, and he collides with Freedom. The U.S. government states that the astronauts were killed in various jet accidents that left their bodies unrecoverable. They note that many of the rock samples returned from previous Apollo missions given to dignitaries are now missing.

• Warren Christie as Lunar Module Pilot Captain Benjamin "Ben" Anderson
• Lloyd Owen as Commander Nathan "Nate" Walker
• Ryan Robbins as Command Module Pilot Lieutenant Colonel John "Johnny" Grey
• Andrew Airlie as CAPCOM (Thomas Young)
• Michael Kopsa as Deputy Secretary of Defense

Apollo 18 was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, North America.^[5]

The work has been promoted as a "found footage" film that does not use actors. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dimension Films head Bob Weinstein "balk[ed] at the idea" that the film was a work of fiction:

"We didn't shoot anything; we found it. Found, baby!"^[6][7]

The Science & Entertainment Exchange provided a science consultation to the film's production team.^[8] NASA was also "minimally involved with this picture", but declined to go further with the project.^[9]

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 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.^[10]

In 1998, a sting operation called Operation Lunar Eclipse recovered the Honduras Apollo 17 goodwill Moon rock.^[11]

The film has been distributed by Dimension Films.^[12]

Sixteen deleted scenes and four alternate endings are included in the DVD releases.^[13][14]

Other deleted scenes have also surfaced that were included in some of the trailers.

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. In the first version, Walker and Anderson find the cosmonaut's helmet but no Soviet lander. They then find the cosmonaut's body dragged many meters away. In the second version, the cosmonaut's body 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 rock 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 against the Soviet Union, which is conducting human experiments with the venom.

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 from lack of oxygen. 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.

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.^{[4][15][16][17][18][19]}

The film was released December 27, 2011, on DVD, Blu-ray, and online. Special features include an audio commentary 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.^[14]

Apollo 18 received generally negative reviews from critics upon its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 24% based on 75 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2 out of 10.^[20] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 24 out of 100, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[21] Audience reception was similarly poor, with the film receiving a D grade on CinemaScore, suggesting weak word of mouth.^[22]

Critics largely criticized the film's lack of originality, comparing it unfavorably to The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, but failing to capture the same level of suspense.^[23][24] Entertainment Weekly critic Keith Staskiewicz wrote that "Apollo 18 fails to stay with you because, like the cratered satellite on which it's set, it has no atmosphere."^[21] Los Angeles Times film critic Mark Olsen wrote "The film takes a staringly long time to rev up, and even at less than 90 minutes feels thin and at moments like it is playing for time."^[25] Other critics noted the slow pacing and predictable scares, with many reviewers noting that the "found-footage" format, while appropriate for the premise, was not effectively executed.^[26] Seth Shostak and Keith Cowing both praised the film for its atmospheric tension and its commitment to a realistic 1970s NASA aesthetic.^[27][28]

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.^[2] 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, another horror film opening the same weekend as Apollo 18.

• Moonfall, 2022 movie with a similar plot
• Europa Report, 2013 movie also featuring an extraterrestrial encounter on a space mission
• The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks, 2012 nonfiction book about the missing Apollo moon rocks
• Lost Cosmonauts, conspiracy theory involving supposed secret deaths of cosmonauts
• Moon landing conspiracy theories in popular culture
• Moon in fiction

• Apollo 18 at IMDb
• Apollo 18 at Box Office Mojo
• Apollo 18 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Apollo 18 at Metacritic