By Natalie Allen | Arts and Entertainment Editor

The science-fiction horror film Apollo 18 may have whetted the interest of paranormal thrill-seekers. The thought of monsters on the moon, secret space missions, and the possibly of a huge government scandal would seem to be the perfect setup for a scary work of genius. Unfortunately, the film did not exactly leave a “so-frightened-I-can’t-turn-the-lights-off-tonight” impression on the viewer.

The film was directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, who is well-known for his Spanish films. He did a wonderful job setting up each scene and  augmenting the dialogue with realistic scenery. The problem was the substance behind the dialogue. It took a very long time to actually get the plot started. He builds up the story of an average group of astronauts with ordinary families, just trying to make it to the moon. The spacemen start experiencing unusual signal breaks with main control and the madness begins shortly thereafter.

There were certainly phenomenal things happening on the moon, but “Apollo” showed uncanny similarity to other movies, such as Alien or Paranormal Activity. None of the things that happened were anything that hasn’t been seen or done before. Everything became more and more predictable as the movie progressed.

Overall, this film wasn’t worth the effort I put into viewing it. I wouldn’t suggest it to any people I care about. The amount of undeveloped plot-line within the production will terrify them above anything else.