Nato – Apollo 18
Ahhh! Space rocks! The horror, the horror!!!!
Fighting sleep the entire time I watched Apollo 18, I willed myself through this Timur Bekmambetov produced bust waiting for some type of claustrophobic horror, but couldn’t have been let down any harder. Bekmambetov’s name is always attached to projects shying away from safety, but I don’t understand what he potentially saw in Gonzalo López-Gallego’s sci-fi snooze fest.
Following three astronauts who return to the moon after our fateful original landing, they find something scary enough to keep the US from returning since. That’s it, pretty simple plot.
Just like Area 407, there is zero horror to be found. I’d be lying if I said Apollo 18’s trailer didn’t seem a tad interesting, but Gallego doesn’t take much time destroying any lingering intrigue. Much of the film is spent watching astronauts sleep, talk, sleep some more, walk around the moon, drive around the moon, then sleep a little more. Emphasis on the sleep. Add an embarrassingly anti-climactic ending, and you’ve got one of the most boring watches of 2011 on your hands, and a perfect example of how to exploit found footage horror for all the wrong reasons.
Remy – Man Bites Dog
If you have never seen Man Bites Dog from 1992, stop reading this right now and go find it. No? Well, keep reading and I’ll convince you.
Before I extol its virtues upon the unknowing, you need to understand that this film pretty much set the tone for the found footage genre. So many people love to say that Blair Witch is what set the tone, but how can you say that when Man Bites Dog did the mockumentary thing seven years earlier? I realize The Legend of Boggy Creek and Cannibal Holocaust came before Man Bites Dog, though, so I guess the argument is futile.
Anyway, Man Bites Dog is about a serial killer who gets followed around by a camera crew who, over a period of time, become less passive to his acts. It plays off the idea of voyeurism and begs the question (like I brought up in our last piece) when do we go from being witnesses to being participants? For any horror fan it is the best existential question you can ever be asked. Why? Because to define the answer is impossible.
From the very first kill in Man Bites Dog, this movie feels very real, and it never blinks in the face of realistic violence. It was also the precursor for Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon, which took the “killer on camera” idea in awesome new directions as well. But Man Bites Dog is the film I really feel set the tone for this type of horror movie, whether anyone knows it or not.
Also, the director’s name is Remy. Do you know how rare that is for me? A cool mockumentary horror movie about a serial killer, directed by a guy named Remy? What’s not to like??
