Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • SFX
Total Film The smarter take on movies
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Subscribe
  • Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best Netflix Shows

Recommended reading

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Jamie and Alfie Williams as Spike in 28 Years Later
Horror Movies 28 Years Later reviews, cast, and everything else you need to know about Danny Boyle's zombie horror sequel
Embalmed hand from Bring Her Back (2025) website blackangeltapes.net net to the embalmed hand from Talk To Me (2023)
Horror Movies New horror movie Bring Her Back launches in-universe black market website all but confirming Talk To Me connection, and its contents will terrify you
Dr. Kelson welcoming Spike and Isla to the Bone Temple in Danny Boyle's zombie horror sequel 28 Years Later
Horror Movies 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple release date, cast, trailer, and everything else we know about the zombie horror sequel
Ralph Fiennes in 28 Years Later
Horror Movies New 28 Years Later trailer is one of the year's best to date – and is a nerve-jangling tease of a decades-in-the-making horror
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later
Horror Movies 28 Years Later dark web teaser site all but confirms that the 2007 sequel's cliffhanger ending won't affect the third installment
Jamie and Spike running away from a horde of Infected in Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later
Horror Movies 28 Years Later star Aaron Taylor-Johnson explains why the zombie sequel is "more horrific" than the average scary movie
Bring Her Back
Horror Movies After looking through Bring Her Back's viral black market website, I need Danny and Michael Philippou to make a V/H/S-style found footage movie about its creepy, cursed objects
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies
  3. Action Movies

The Story Behind Apollo 18

Features
By Joshua Winning published 2 March 2011

There’s a reason we’ve never gone back to the moon…

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

In the beginning

In the beginning

This year, found footage horror is going galactic. The release of new movie Apollo 18 represents one small step for mankind, but one giant leap for found footage horror.

Now a bona fide genre of its own, movies that use so-called ‘found footage’ to tell their stories have become en vogue . But then, they always have been.

From The Blair Witch Project in 1999 - which seized on a newborn internet for a massively successful viral campaign that had everybody believing in that wood-dwelling hag – to 2007’s Paranormal Activity and 2008’s Cloverfield , the low-budget, high profit mould has well and truly been set.

It was Paranormal Activity that gave found footage horror a shot of adrenaline. Made for peanuts (just $15,000), the film’s $193m gross revenue meant that found footage horror was here to stay.

But what’s the story behind Apollo 18 , the newest in this most nail-biting breed of terror? To find out, we’ll need to go back in time…

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
15 July, 1975

15 July, 1975

After 17 space missions, NASA’s final Apollo undertaking took place on 15 July, 1975. Officially called the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), but unofficially referred to as ‘Apollo 18’, ASTP was the first US/Soviet space flight and the last official US-manned space endeavour until 1981.

Ending the space race competition, the ASTP mission wasn’t otherwise massively unusual. The mission consisted of two spacecrafts - one US and the other Soviet – being docked together. When in space, they separated and carried out their own tests.

According to official NASA logs, a further three Apollo missions – 18, 19 and 20 – were all cancelled before blast off. That number 18 presumably indicates that an official Apollo 18 that didn’t involve the Soviets had at one time been planned. But according to one man, those missions did actually happen…

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
16 August, 1976

16 August, 1976

William Rutledge is the ‘deep throat’ of Apollo 20. A purported former astronaut, he says that the Apollo 20 took place in 1976, following failed 18 and 19 attempts. According to him, Rutledge and his fellow astronauts discovered the debris of an alien craft - containing ET life forms - on the moon.

“We went inside the big spaceship, also into a triangular one,” he said during an interview in 2007. “The major parts of the exploration was; it was a mother ship, very old, who crossed the universe at least milliard of years ago (1.5 estimated).

“There were many signs of biology inside, old remains of a vegetation in a ‘motor’ section, special triangular rocks who emitted ‘tears’ of a yellow liquid which has some special medical properties, and of course signs of extra solar creatures.

“We found remains of little bodies (10cm) living in a network of glass tubes all along the ship, but the major discovery was two bodies, one intact.” Think he’s a crackpot? Let's go deeper…

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
2007

2007

In 2007, Rutledge got himself online and used YouTube to upload videos of what he claimed consisted of footage from the Apollo 20 mission. The footage showed off the ‘city’ that he claims he discovered on the dark side of the moon.

Sadly for UFO buffs, the videos were swiftly discredited. It became obvious that the images that Rutledge claimed were from the Apollo 20 mission, were actually snippets of footage from the Apollo 15 mission, albeit re-cut for a new purpose.

That’s not to ignore the fact that certain photos taken during the Apollo 15 mission were intriguing – debates still rage over a bizarre cigar-shaped ‘object’ seen nestled in a crevice on the moon’s surface. Trick of the light? Or alien craft? Hard to tell.

One thing was sure: Rutledge was a fake. Still, there’s no denying that his story caught people’s imagination…

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
6 November, 2010

6 November, 2010

In an interesting twist of fate, it was a Russian who would spearhead the idea of a movie revolving around creepy, astronaut-captured footage from the moon.

Having helmed horror with Night Watch and action with Wanted , director Timur Bekmambetov decided to jump on the found footage bandwagon with Apollo 18 .

Though the filmmaker is keeping wisely schtum about the movie (it’s the not knowing that’s a key factor in these found movies), one can only assume that the inspiration was the controversy surrounding the Apollo 20 hoax.

In November 2010, the Weinstein Company won an over-night, heated bidding war for the production rights to Apollo 18 . With Bekmambetov part of the package as producer, the film was lined up for release on 4 March, 2011.

Harvey and Bob Weinstein agreed to finance the film. Pre-production had been up and running (under the radar) for months, but what they needed was a director…

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
18 November, 2010

18 November, 2010

First pick for the Apollo 18 director’s chair was Trevor Cawood. An effects worker with years of experience on various SFX-laden projects, he seemed the perfect fit for the film.

Not only would he direct, but his effects company would be responsible for Apollo 18 ’s numerous special effects. However, mere weeks after Apollo 18 found a studio, it lost Cawood as director. The film’s swift production schedule was blamed.

Instead, Bekmambetov brought in Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego. A Spanish director with experience working in TV and films, Apollo 18 would be Lopez-Gallego’s first English-speaking film. And completely different from his last – 2007’s King Of The Kill , a straight-forward, tense thriller.

Meanwhile, the rise of Apollo 18 saw other similar found space horrors fall by the wayside, with Roland Emmerich’s The Zone and the WB's Dark Moon both abandoned…

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
23 November, 2010

23 November, 2010

Capitalising on the surge in sudden activity on Apollo 18 , the Weinstein Co released their first official poster for the movie. An eerie, sparse effort, it merely shows an astronaut’s boot print, and offered us the film’s tantalising tagline - 'There's a reason we've never gone back to the moon.'

“This is how we tell stories nowadays, how we document events,” Cloverfield director Matt Reeves offered on the topic of found footage during that film’s release.

“In Cloverfield , we have different characters documenting the events with their handicams. That creates a lot of suspense, because you get different camera angles, and the narrative appears in many different forms.

“It also creates a lot of suspense in terms of how we see the monster. Because the characters in the film are running from this monster the footage is often very static and jittery. Sometimes the camera will go black and you just hear the sound. It creates a lot of tension.” Apollo 18 will surely attempt to replicate that feeling…

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
18 February, 2011

18 February, 2011

Just three months after Apollo 18 was announced, the film’s first trailer landed online. Which is an incredibly fast turnaround for any movie, let alone one set in space and with a complicated found footage look to get right.

Making sure that everybody knows this is a ‘found’ movie, the trailer sports crackly, blurry imagery, realistic black and white shots of the moon and an overall pervading sense of dread...

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
25 February, 2011

25 February, 2011

“People intrinsically know there are secrets being held from us,” says Dimension boss Bob Weinstein. “Look at WikiLeaks: There are secrets that are really true to the world. It’s not bogus.”

He’s the first person to have spoken publicly about Apollo 18 at all since we first learned about it back in November. And he’s not without a sense of humour regarding the project: “We didn’t shoot anything,” he says. “We found it. Found baby!”

Now with a new release date of 22 April, just a month later than the film’s original date, Apollo 18 is nearly upon us. But its viral campaign is only just getting off the ground.

“We’re about to take this up a notch and really have fun with this audience,” says marketing executive Bladimiar Norman. “This is just the beginning, but I’m not giving you any more secrets!”

Norman did, however, reveal to Entertainment Weekly a top secret website where fans can find bonus material. Head over here to take a look.

So will Apollo 18 be the new Paranormal Activity ? Or even the new Blair Witch ? We’ll soon find out.

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
CATEGORIES
HULU Streaming Services
Joshua Winning
Social Links Navigation

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.  

See more Movies Features
Read more
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Jamie and Alfie Williams as Spike in 28 Years Later
28 Years Later reviews, cast, and everything else you need to know about Danny Boyle's zombie horror sequel
Embalmed hand from Bring Her Back (2025) website blackangeltapes.net net to the embalmed hand from Talk To Me (2023)
New horror movie Bring Her Back launches in-universe black market website all but confirming Talk To Me connection, and its contents will terrify you
Dr. Kelson welcoming Spike and Isla to the Bone Temple in Danny Boyle's zombie horror sequel 28 Years Later
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple release date, cast, trailer, and everything else we know about the zombie horror sequel
Ralph Fiennes in 28 Years Later
New 28 Years Later trailer is one of the year's best to date – and is a nerve-jangling tease of a decades-in-the-making horror
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later
28 Years Later dark web teaser site all but confirms that the 2007 sequel's cliffhanger ending won't affect the third installment
Jamie and Spike running away from a horde of Infected in Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later
28 Years Later star Aaron Taylor-Johnson explains why the zombie sequel is "more horrific" than the average scary movie
Latest in Action Movies
Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord in Peacemaker season 2 trailer
Maxwell Lord - The comic history of the villain who mind-controlled Superman and almost destroyed the Justice League
Kevin Feige at the Marvel Hall H panel during San Diego Comic-Con
James Gunn says Marvel boss Kevin Feige was a "really great role model" for what he's trying to achieve at DC: "He let me do my thing, but he also was really honest with what he thought"
Superman bloodied, being carried by his robot assistants
James Gunn reveals that Superman has a secret voice cameo from a DC star playing a totally different role: "I actually recorded her on my phone"
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Home script was changed after Reddit guessed how Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would be introduced
The Troll in Troll 2 trailer
Netflix’s upcoming follow-up to its most popular non-English language movie ever gets first trailer, giving us our first look at the franchise’s biggest monster yet
Superman
Superman has a twist from an obscure 1970s comic book to explain why no one realizes Clark Kent's identity, because "the glasses always bothered" James Gunn
Latest in Features
Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord in Peacemaker season 2 trailer
Maxwell Lord - The comic history of the villain who mind-controlled Superman and almost destroyed the Justice League
Hades 2 announcement trailer
70 hours later and with a full launch imminent, I already miss Hades 2 being in Early Access
Toothless, Miles Morales' Mask, Battle Droid with STAP, and Nike Dunk sets divided from each other by white lines, with a 'GamesRadar+ New Lego' badge in the middle
New Lego sets for July 2025, including the perfect gift I think fans will go nuts for
Jan sadly presses a hand on a screen that says 'deceased' in The Alters
The Alters has changed the way I play games for the better, and after 18 years I can finally finish Mass Effect
Sam balances across a ladder high up in the mountains in Death Stranding 2
Death Stranding 2 is my favorite online game this year, even though you never directly see any other players
Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
The Squid Game season 3 finale is a crushing but ultimately hopeful conclusion – and I wouldn't have it any other way
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
    1
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  2. 2
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  3. 3
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  4. 4
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  5. 5
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...