“There’s a reason we’ve never gone back to the moon.†And it has nothing to do with budget cuts or space radiation. In a trailer just released for Apollo 18, we get a glimpse of what made NASA cover up their 18th voyage to the moon. Recently discovered footage from Russian film archives suggests that America did in fact visit the moon one last time, and our astronauts found more than they bargained for.Apollo 18 is a documentary-style, “found-footage†sci-fi thriller produced by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) and Michele Wolkoff, president of development for Bekmambetov Projects, Ltd. From the Dimension Films studio, Apollo 18 is directed by Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego (El Rey De La Montana) from a screenplay written by Brian Miller and is financed by the Weinstein Company. Apollo 18 releases April 22nd 2011. Hit the jump to check out the trailer.Watch the trailer in HD on Apple. -Though the “found footage†sub-genre is a little old (The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity, etc.), people tend to flock to these movies in droves. Apollo 18 at least has some originality on its side as it introduces a historical tie-in that involves the famous Apollo moon missions. (Although, another project Dark Moon had a similar plot line.) The Weinstein Company took it a step further, claiming in this press release that the footage in the film was actually discovered by producer Bekmambetov while he was digging through Russian film archives.The trailer gives you a glimpse of the lunar life discovered by Apollo 18 astronauts and it’s decidedly smaller than the creatures in Cloverfield. But it appears the real menace on the moon is what happens when your fellow space travelers come into contact with the aliens and become infected. Though it’s done with the subtlety of a hammer, the idea of the astronauts turning on each other is an interesting twist.Check out the official site for Apollo 18 here and the synopsis below.Synopsis:
Officially, Apollo 17, launched December 17th, 1972 was the last manned mission to the moon. But a year later, in December of 1973, two American astronauts were sent on a secret mission to the moon funded by the US Department of Defense. What you are about to see is the actual footage which the astronauts captured on that mission. While NASA denies its authenticity, others say it’s the real reason we’ve never gone back to the moon.