In the film we learn that in 1974 Apollo 18 mission is restarted by the Department of Defense. They call up the original crew and bring them back in. The crew is Commander Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen), Lunar Module Pilot Captain Benjamin “Ben” Anderson (Warren Christie), & Command Module Pilot Lieutenant Colonel John Grey (Ryan Robbins). The mission given to them is to go to the moon and place ICBM monitoring devices to protect America from Soviet attacks and collect moon rocks. The mission is now top secret, so the Crewmen cannot even tell their families that they are in fact going to the moon.

After lift off from Earth and as part of the mission, Commander Walker and Captain Anderson take the Lunar Module and land on the moon while Colonel Grey stays in orbit in the Command Module. After landing on the surface of the moon, Walker and Anderson begin placing the monitoring devices and collecting rocks. During the whole time they are on camera and have cameras placed on them to record the whole thing for the Department of Defense. Soon Walker and Anderson start noticing some things on the moon that make them question the nature of their mission and the DOD’s real intentions.

This film is one in the same vein as The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. It’s mockumentary at the beginning then all found footage for the rest of the film. The look of the film has the feel of a 1970s 16mm educational film with all the pops and overexposure of frames. The costumes and sets look and feel authentic to the time it’s set in. Sadly that much care was not taken with the story in the film.

The pacing of the film is terribly slow, at a snail pace in the first half of the film. It was almost sleep inducing just watching the characters sit and talk in the small Lunar module. The mystery the characters are trying to find out really isn’t that mysterious, it can be figured fairly quickly. Also the moments of the tension aren’t earned showing the characters dealing with their situation on the moon surface. The Colonel Grey character is very much wasted and really has no reason to be in the film. The acting in the film is decent enough; I could believe the characters but not the situation they were in.

This is not a good science fiction horror film. The director, Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego and Brian Miller, the screenwriter really failed to convey the suspense and shocking moments that this film needed to truly show why there were no more Apollo missions to the moon to the audience. In other words, this found footage should’ve stayed hidden.

FINAL GRADE: D

originally posted on reelfilmnews.com