Mike Flanagan Lists This 23% Rated Sci-Fi Horror as One of His Personal Favorites

Without exaggeration, Mike Flanagan can be called the leading horror filmmaker of our time. He doesn't just make bone-chilling horror flicks. He also deconstructs the genre itself, wrapping it in unusual and deeply disturbing stories.

Mike Flanagan Added Apollo 18 to His List of Favorite Horror Movies

Flanagan loves making horror movies as much as he loves watching them. The director has an account on Letterboxd, making the lists of films he particularly likes.

And one of them is Apollo 18 – a horror project in the found footage genre that did not impress either the critics or the viewers – it has 24% and 23% on Rotten Tomatoes respectively.

So what was it about Apollo 18 that caught the attention of the modern horror master?

What Is Apollo 18 About?

Apollo 17 is considered the last US-sponsored lunar mission, but was that really true? Newly discovered footage suggests that the next lunar mission, Apollo 18, ended in tragedy.

Astronauts John, Nathan and Benjamin discover a space capsule nearby while on a mission to install radar scanners. They also discover a dead astronaut and, unfortunately for them, are soon forced to confront the cause of his death.

Apollo 18 Is a Truly Unique Mix of Sci-Fi Horror And Found Footage

Apollo 18 is perhaps the most successful experiment in crossing two close but still separate subgenres –-pseudo-documentary cinema and found footage – and putting the result into a sci-fi shell.

This movie did for sci-fi horror what The Blair Witch Project did for mystery horror – it has given the first example of a unique mix of genres.

However, even 14 years later, science fiction remains outside the found footage format. This makes Apollo 18 all the more valuable and interesting as an intergenre experiment.

Apollo 18 Terrifies Not With Jump Scares, but With a Tense Atmosphere of Space Loneliness

Apollo 18's budget was only $5 million, so you won't see any impressive special effects or jaw-dropping action sequences here. Gonzalo López-Gallego's movie is scary for something else – the oppressive atmosphere of an unknown, but so close to Earth, alien world.

It's a terrifying atmosphere of cosmic loneliness, blended with horror and a feeling of utter helplessness in the face of something that people are not yet able to fully understand.

What makes Apollo 18 so special? First, the exploitation of a well-known conspiracy theory about a secret failed mission to the moon, after which it was decided to abandon the flights.

Second, the found footage style that emphasizes the experiences of the characters. Never before has the moon been so cruel and soulless. In the movie, it is presented as an eerie, silent graveyard, as if it were absorbing all the emptiness and darkness of space.

Where to Watch Apollo 18?

So forget the Rotten Tomatoes scores and the critics' reviews and turn on Apollo 18. Mike Flanagan is not going to recommend a bad horror movie to you.

Apollo 18 is available to stream on Roku and Tubi.