Apollo 18 (2011)

As we all know 1972's Apollo 17 was NASA's last manned mission to the Moon (to date).

Or so we were led to believe.

My latest bargain Blu-Ray purchase, Apollo 18, posits a top secret mission in December 1973 to plant Cold War listening devices on The Moon, but something went wrong and that's why the Americans have never been back.

Then apparently in 2011, a whistleblower dumped 80 hours of video footage from the mission online, from which this 'found footage' style, faux documentary, was assembled.

Now, I thought I was over the 'found footage' craze shortly after the market was saturated with ill-conceived Blair Witch Project knock-offs, but recently I've stumbled upon a couple (this and the superb As Above, So Below) that have made me reconsider my prejudices.

One thing Apollo 18 gets right straight off the bat is that it doesn't hang around. Within minutes of introducing the three astronauts we're going to be following they're in space and then on The Moon.

And the speeding train doesn't slow down. It's not long after they've landed that the weird shit starts happening and, given the speed with which events unfold, you find yourself wondering how director Gonzalo López-Gallego is going to keep Brian Miller's script running for the film's 75-minute duration (it's listed as 86-minutes, but the balance is just the closing credits).

But fear not. The pacing is superb throughout, and, barring a couple of lukewarm jump scares (one's played for laughs anyway), the story is somewhere between a modern Doctor Who and Event Horizon in its atmosphere.

In fact, I would make an argument for Apollo 18's possible inclusion in my unofficial headcanon of the Alien film franchise timeline.

After all, it manages to keep the incident (except for the 2011 'leak') under wraps, with only the Department of Defence being in the know, and takes a very measured approach to the possibility of an extraterrestrial lifeform.

Already plagued by communications interference, the astronauts of Apollo 18 discover evidence of a heretofore unknown Soviet mission to The Moon, but then begin to suspect that there's also something 'inhuman' up there with them as well.

The film's footage looks, for the most part, as though it's aged, period stock, encapsulating López-Gallego's eye for authenticity that - to an untrained, unscientific eye like my own - feels as though the 'found footage' could have been genuine.

Except for the unfortunate fact that - and this is no reflection at all on the actors, who are all wholly convincing - I recognised the men playing the three lead characters: Capt. Ben Anderson (Warren Christie, from Alphas, Batwoman etc), Lt Col John Grey (Ryan Robbins, from Riverdale, Arrow etc) and Commander Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen, from The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones).

But, let's be honest, the story is ultimately so far into tinfoil hat conspiracy theory land that no one is really going to believe it's real.

That said, it appears to have been convincing enough that NASA felt the need to put out a disclaimer.

Apollo 18 does a smashing job of maintaining its verisimilitude, right up to the denouement where we get the "official" explanation of what happened to the three men.

Within the context of the story, I bought the reason for NASA never returning to The Moon one hundred percent.

If you can accept the movie's premise, of being 'lost footage' from a classified American space mission, then you should love this.

Event Horizon To Get 'Definitive' Blu-Ray Re-Release In The States

I have a great deal of fondness for Paul W.S. Anderson‘s 1997 Event Horizon and so am delighted to report that it's getting (in the States, at least) a 'definitive' Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release this Autumn.

In the year 2047 a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage the long lost starship "Event Horizon". The ship disappeared mysteriously 7 years before on its maiden voyage and with its return comes even more mystery as the crew of the "Lewis and Clark" discover the real truth behind its disappearance and something even more terrifying.

Currently scheduled for a September 27 street date, from Scream Factory, the new Event Horizon blu-ray can be pre-ordered here .

The first 500 orders will include an exclusive limited-edition 18” x 24” rolled poster of the exclusive new cover illustration by Joel Robinson.

The disc will come with a double-sided sleeve, with the reverse featuring Event Horizon's original theatrical artwork.

On the Scream Factory Facebook page, the company also says:

"New extras are in progress and will be announced on a later date.

We can confirm today that we are doing a new 4K scan of the film!

As for any much-inquired-about additional footage (in addition to what's be presented on prior releases), we are looking into it as best we can.

We welcome any leads you may have alongside our efforts."

It is believed they are referring to a legendary 130-minute rough cut of the movie that was shown to test audiences and deemed to have "excessive gore".

As well as more gruesome death scenes, this cut expanded on the character backstories and the nature of the Hell dimension.

Sadly, Anderson has long maintained that much of this footage is long lost.

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

In the near-future, the Earth is teetering on the brink of apocalypse, with energy shortages driving countries to increasingly desperate measures to survive.

Meanwhile, in orbit, as society breaks down below them, an international team of scientists - on the massive spacestation Cloverfield - are attempting to fire up The Shepherd, a particle accelerator that could could provide unlimited energy for the planet and save mankind.

Unfortunately, after two years of failure, just as the scientists think they've got The Shepherd working - something goes horribly wrong...

The station loses sight of Earth as bizarre phenomena begin to plague its crew, and down on the planet chaos erupts.

Full marks to producer JJ Abrams for keeping The Cloverfield Paradox pretty much off the radar until it appeared on Netflix this morning.

A companion piece to the original Cloverfield monster movie, this light-weight slice of fun makes liberal use of weird science to explain the goings-on of the first movie, while serving up a pulpy action horror tale of its own.

With echoes of Event Horizon and recent episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, The Cloverfield Paradox is a fine example of the "haunted house in space" sub-genre.

Occasionally formulaic and occasionally surprising, the breathless adventure is broken up with a sprinkling of thematic nuggets ranging from the strength of familial bonds, and heroism and sacrifice, through to moments of delightful dark humour.

It's also one of those wonderful works of sci-fi and horror that you can't really say anything about without spoiling the surprises.

Just sit back and enjoy.

The Cloverfield Paradox isn't high art, but it's a fun romp and proves that there's still life in this odd, episodic, franchise.

Pandorum (2009)

A welcome addition to the "spaceship as haunted house" sub-genre of horror sci-fi (which also includes Alien and Event Horizon), Pandorum sees flight crew member Bower (Ben Foster) awaken from suspended animation on a massive starship heading to the planet Tanis - which is supposedly future-mankind's last hope for survival after Earth's resources have been sucked dry.

The suspended animation has left Bower with temporary amnesia, but he quickly discovers things aren't right on the ship and he is not the only person awake.

There's very little originality in Pandorum (and it's great for a 'spot the homage' drinking game), with the majority of the important plot twists being very predictable, but the film is well made and well acted, with some great scenery, interesting ghoulish monsters and nicely-paced excitement and thrills throughout.

It was a movie I'd wanted to see since it came out and I wasn't disappointed.