Movie lovers seemed to have a serious case of found footage fatigue in 2011. Their disdain was so intense that the detractors seemed to outweigh fans of the POV filmmaking technique 10 to 1. Perhaps that negative sentiment has something to do with Apollo 18 ’s less than savory reputation. For reference, the 2011 found footage feature has a 24% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a user score of 5.2/10 on IMDb. Yikes.
Though the film has more than its fair share of detractors, Apollo 18 has at least one high-profile supporter. Since you’ve already read the headline, you likely know I’m talking about Mike Flanagan.
Yes, Mike Flanagan has a soft spot for this much-maligned effort. In fact, the Oculus director even added the film to a Letterboxd list featuring his favorite horror films.
Well, there you have it. Mike Flanagan is an unapologetic fan of Apollo 18. Are you itching to watch (or rewatch) the flick? If you are, you’ve got options. Lots of them. The film is available to stream via half a dozen AVOD platforms as of the publication of this post. Tubi, Pluto, Roku, etc…
Gonzalo López-Gallego helmed Apollo 18. He directed from a script by Brian Miller. Apollo 18 is Miller’s only feature-length script produced to date. Nightwatch director Timur Bekmambetov worked as a producer on the project.
Interesting aside: For one reason or another, the film had a troubled road to release. It shifted dates a reported 10 times before finally securing a September 2, 2011 release date. When the flick finally hit theaters, it pulled in over $26 million against an estimated budget of $5 million. Take that, naysayers.
The setup for Apollo 18 goes like this:
Apollo 17 was the last U.S.-sponsored lunar voyage — or was it? Hours of found footage, classified for decades, point to a subsequent moon mission — Apollo 18 — that ended very badly. Astronauts John Grey (Ryan Robbins), Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen), and Benjamin Anderson (Warren Christie), on a mission to install radar scanners, discover a Soviet space capsule nearby. The men also discover a dead cosmonaut, and unfortunately for them, learn how he died.
That is everything we’ve got for you at this juncture. Make sure to stay tuned to the site for more exciting recommendations from your favorite creators in the genre space as we successfully unearth them. If you’d like to keep up with me on social media, you can find me on Threads @FunWithHorror.
Categorized:News
