Worst – Apollo 18
There’s a huge different between being a producer and director, and no found footage film exemplified that ideal more than Apollo 18. Produced by visual hypnotist Timur Bekmambetov and directed by Spanish filmmaker Gonzalo López-Gallego, this outer space found footage flick provided one of the most boring horror experiences of 2011, showcasing everything wrong with found footage cinema. A lack of scares, a focus on the mundane, zero plot advancement, a sluggish pace, grainy quality, and absolutely none of Bekmambetov’s influence – much to my dismay.
Although there are about twenty billion reasons as to why Apollo 18 is a perfect example of what NOT to do in a found footage film, the most prevalent to me was a fading third act. Most found footage films end with a bang, but after sitting through numerous scenes of sleeping astronauts and meandering shots of moon walking, the final minutes of Apollo 18 injected no excitement or intrigue. What do we get? More astronaut space running, a silly escape attempt, and evil alien rocks. Found footage movies can be boring during the initial setup, but the best go out with a bang. I mean, I get it, in space no one can hear you scream – but that doesn’t mean a film taking place in space can’t MAKE you scream.
I really wish Timur Bekmambetov was the creative mind behind Apollo 18, because if you’ve seen films like Night Watch and Wanted, you know he’d have played around with alien action and isolated horror with intense fervor – instead of exploiting every droll found footage cliché in the book.