Apollo 18 (2011)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Benjamin "Ben" Anderson	Warren Christie	½
Nathan "Nate" Walker	Lloyd Owen
John Grey	Ryan Robbins	½

Review

I had hoped filmmakers soon would realize that the found-footage genre has run its course, at least for a while. This style of filmmaking returned with a bang with The Blair Witch Project in 1999, after having laid dormant for some time. But in later years, after dozens and dozens of films trying the same trick, an opening poster claiming "This was the footage they left behind" just doesn't strike terror anymore – at least not without further ado. So when Spanish director Gonzalo López-Gallego opens this sci-fi mystery thriller with such a message, and then neglects to give us engaging character presentations or anything else to make us care about this story, Apollo 18 is off to a bad start. The first half of the film is unremarkable, by all standards, but unlike most horror films from space, this one actually grows on you (literally too, as it were), and the ending is quite effective – at least enough to save this flick from complete ridicule.