Apollo 18 trailer

[Srelex]

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/apollo18/

Some strange stuff in there (like an entire moon launch being covered up) but it looks like it may be good for watching for a laugh at least. Certainly relatively original for a low-budget horror.

[TOSDOC]

Looks like some idiot said "Let's do 'Blair Witch' on the moon!". I think the last thing we need is another reason not to go to the moon again--do we really need to scare people away from this?

[OmegaChief]

I... can't stop laughing at the idea someone would be able to cover up a Saturn V launch... *Bursts into more laughter*

[Srelex]

I... can't stop laughing at the idea someone would be able to cover up a Saturn V launch... *Bursts into more laughter*

"We were experimenting with the world's largest sex toy. Move along now."

[jollyreaper]

I... can't stop laughing at the idea someone would be able to cover up a Saturn V launch... *Bursts into more laughter*

We know what they found there. Decepticons!

[Crossroads Inc.]

Dear god did I see a Soviet Moon Lander at the very end there? Are they seriously going to try and foist that the Soviets not only launched a successful N1 but got to the moon without anyone knowing? Are they THAT high???

[TOSDOC]

You know, it does remind me of what Carey Elwes' Mike Collins said in HBO's From The Earth To The Moon, when all the Apollo astronauts are shooting pool and trying to figure out what the first one to land should say:

"If you had any balls, you'd say 'Oh my God, what is that thing???' Then scream and cut your mike!"

[spartasman]

At least it looks semi-original, better than another Saw movie or Nightmare on Elm St. remake.

[hongi]

You know, it does remind me of what Carey Elwes' Mike Collins said in HBO's From The Earth To The Moon, when all the Apollo astronauts are shooting pool and trying to figure out what the first one to land should say:

"If you had any balls, you'd say 'Oh my God, what is that thing???' Then scream and cut your mike!"

brb, enjoying my flight of fancy at what might have happened if Armstrong did do this.

[jollyreaper]

I'd go monolith prospecting.

[PeZook]

I... can't stop laughing at the idea someone would be able to cover up a Saturn V launch... *Bursts into more laughter*

Don't forget producing an extra Apollo stack, planning an extra mission and assembling the thing in the VAB in full view of hundreds of people.

But there's an entire subspecies of lunar hoax theorists who actually think that it's possible to do that and more, so yeah...

[Darth Tedious]

I... can't stop laughing at the idea someone would be able to cover up a Saturn V launch... *Bursts into more laughter*

You think covering up a Saturn V launch is hilarious? Try three of them!
Some idiot claims to have been on board Apollo 20 when it landed near an alien city on the dark side of the moon...
But they have this amazing video to prove it!

[PeZook]

Ah, glouries of the tubenetweb. Random fuckers can claim to have been part of a secret space program and gain a cult following

[TOSDOC]

Maybe they had David Copperfield help conceal the launches.

[Molyneux]

Maybe they had David Copperfield help conceal the launches.

The man made the Statue of Liberty vanish, he can do anything!
Looks like it might be a decent brainless horror film...but honestly, the "REAL FOOTAGE OMGLOLZ" gets on my nerves. It's not a fucking documentary, it's a horror film. Don't start slinging bullshit about "based on true events" if you can't fucking back it up.

[eion]

Well if you wanted to hide the launch of a Saturn V you couldn't do so anywhere in the United States, but you might be able to pull it off if you launched if from French Guiana. Of course none of the launch pads at GSC have every been able to launch a Saturn V, and certainly none of the ones available at the time of the movie, but it might make for a semi-plausible inclusion to the film's backstory.

Of course, the Russians would still have picked up the launch in all likelihood, but that's a separate issue to deal with.

[andrewgpaul]

I suppose you could handwave something about the various bits being launched into earth orbit on smaller rockets, and then assembled there. However, that's not what the film states. It seems to suggest that the mission was covered up after it occurred. I suppose you could suggest that in the alternate setting of this film, Apollo 18 launched, landed on the moon, all the crew got eaten by moon-spiders and the whole thing was reported as being destroyed before landing - like Apollo 13 but without the happy ending.

I doubt that suggestion is any more plausible, though.

[Darth Tedious]

Maybe they had David Copperfield help conceal the launches.

The man made the Statue of Liberty vanish, he can do anything!
Looks like it might be a decent brainless horror film...but honestly, the "REAL FOOTAGE OMGLOLZ" gets on my nerves. It's not a fucking documentary, it's a horror film. Don't start slinging bullshit about "based on true events" if you can't fucking back it up.

Please don't think I was implying that the movie might be based on real events. The guy who claims these things happened can't even back up his bullshit.

I was however, insinuating that the movie might have taken a little inspiration from the real-life delusional conspiracy theory!

[PeZook]

I am wondering what makes pople think NASA would cover up an alien contact.

Sure, the astronauts are eaten by aliens. It is a tragedy, yes...but really, is it so different than the rocket blowing up, or the Apollo 1 fire?

It is arguably the greatest scientific discovery of all time ; It's not a given that alien monsters = we MUST NOT TELL ANYBODY. There MIGHT be some justification if the aliens are intelligent and actively hostile (though it's shaky) but random mutated space-animals?

Does the government cover it up when one of its employees is bitten by a rabid dog and dies?

That's abstracting from the feasibility of covering it up, naturally, which is in itself just plain not doable, not when the live feed goes through so many hands.

[Molyneux]

Maybe they had David Copperfield help conceal the launches.

The man made the Statue of Liberty vanish, he can do anything!
Looks like it might be a decent brainless horror film...but honestly, the "REAL FOOTAGE OMGLOLZ" gets on my nerves. It's not a fucking documentary, it's a horror film. Don't start slinging bullshit about "based on true events" if you can't fucking back it up.

Please don't think I was implying that the movie might be based on real events. The guy who claims these things happened can't even back up his bullshit.

I was however, insinuating that the movie might have taken a little inspiration from the real-life delusional conspiracy theory!

Oh, not at all - sorry if I gave that impression. I've just always had a very low tolerance for the tendency of horror movies to claim that they're based on real events, no matter how tenuously. As I said - "Blair Witch" in space. See also Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Silence of the Lambs, Plan 9 from Outer Space...all right, that last one gets a pass.

[TOSDOC]

Darth Tedious wrote:
Molyneux wrote:
TOSDOC wrote:
Maybe they had David Copperfield help conceal the launches.


The man made the Statue of Liberty vanish, he can do anything!
Looks like it might be a decent brainless horror film...but honestly, the "REAL FOOTAGE OMGLOLZ" gets on my nerves. It's not a fucking documentary, it's a horror film. Don't start slinging bullshit about "based on true events" if you can't fucking back it up.

Please don't think I was implying that the movie might be based on real events. The guy who claims these things happened can't even back up his bullshit.

I was however, insinuating that the movie might have taken a little inspiration from the real-life delusional conspiracy theory!


Oh, not at all - sorry if I gave that impression. I've just always had a very low tolerance for the tendency of horror movies to claim that they're based on real events, no matter how tenuously.

Ditto on both points. I think there's a big difference in claiming these are real events between finding a film reel from three lost students in the backwoods somewhere and the launch of one of the biggest, most powerful vehicles ever created, capable of being seen and tracked by multiple countries and independent astronomers.

It is arguably the greatest scientific discovery of all time ; It's not a given that alien monsters = we MUST NOT TELL ANYBODY. There MIGHT be some justification if the aliens are intelligent and actively hostile

I can't remember the exact source or quote (I think it was The X-Files), but I think the gist was there wasn't a government on the planet that could stay in power, control its people's fear and anger, or actually do anything about it if it knew that aliens existed that could make off with its citizenry wherever and whenever they wanted--so why panic the citizenry by telling them? Did anyone else see that show?

[PeZook]

I can't remember the exact source or quote (I think it was The X-Files), but I think the gist was there wasn't a government on the planet that could stay in power, control its people's fear and anger, or actually do anything about it if it knew that aliens existed that could make off with its citizenry wherever and whenever they wanted--so why panic the citizenry by telling them? Did anyone else see that show?

That may be somewhat true if the aliens are a hostile technological civilization, but not when the astronauts are eaten by Space Spiders. It would be like covering up an expedition into the Amazon that died of dysentery.

Also, it would only be possible at all (however slightly) when the mission was supposed to be kept secret from the start, since if they didn't expect to get eaten, there'd be half a dozen TV cameras pointed at the screen in Houston, and the live transmission was routed across receivers not affiliated with the US government.

[Molyneux]

I can't remember the exact source or quote (I think it was The X-Files), but I think the gist was there wasn't a government on the planet that could stay in power, control its people's fear and anger, or actually do anything about it if it knew that aliens existed that could make off with its citizenry wherever and whenever they wanted--so why panic the citizenry by telling them? Did anyone else see that show?

That may be somewhat true if the aliens are a hostile technological civilization, but not when the astronauts are eaten by Space Spiders. It would be like covering up an expedition into the Amazon that died of dysentery.

Also, it would only be possible at all (however slightly) when the mission was supposed to be kept secret from the start, since if they didn't expect to get eaten, there'd be half a dozen TV cameras pointed at the screen in Houston, and the live transmission was routed across receivers not affiliated with the US government.

Oh, come now, when was the last time horror-film writers gave a crap about plausibility?

[Purple]

Well it is not implausible that a mission that entails a high risk of the rocket blowing up or any number of things going wrong with it Apollo 13 style would be planed in secret until you absolutely know it worked out fine.

As far as I know that is how the Soviets did it.

[someone_else]

Las time I checked, soviets had something like complete control over their mass medias. That is a pretty major difference with the USA of the time.

Other than that... the moon critters look like Alien's little mind-controlling friends. Lazy playwriters?