Apollo 18 is a 2011 American-Canadian science fiction horror film written by Brian Miller, directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, and co-produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Michele Wolkoff. A Canadian-American co-production, its premise is that the cancelled Apollo 18 mission actually landed on the Moon in December 1974, but never returned, and as a result the United States has never launched another expedition to the Moon. The film is shot in found-footage style, supposedly "lost footage" of the Apollo 18 mission that was only recently discovered. Apollo 18 is López-Gallego's first English-language film. After various release date changes, the film was released in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada on September 2, 2011. However, the release dates for other territories vary. The film received mostly negative reviews, with most critics comparing it negatively to Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project and Alien. Plot In December 1974 (two years after the Apollo 17 mission), the crew of the cancelled Apollo 18 mission is informed that it will now proceed as a top secret Department of Defense (DoD) mission to deliver a classified payload. Commander Nathan Walker, Lieutenant Colonel John Grey, and Captain Ben Anderson are launched, at night, toward the Moon to place an early warning detector for ICBM attacks from the USSR. Grey remains in orbit aboard the Apollo command module Freedom while Walker and Anderson land on the South Pole of the Moon in the Apollo Lunar Module Liberty, on December 25. While planting the ICBM detector, the pair take rock samples which Anderson describes as feeling "strange". In the background, the camera captures a rock moving in a nearby crater. After returning to Liberty, the pair hear noises outside and the motion sensor camera captures a small rock moving nearby. Houston claims the noises are interference from the ICBM detector. The next day, Anderson finds a rock sample on the floor of Liberty despite having secured the samples. During their ICBM detector set-up, Anderson discovers footprints that lead them to a bloodstained and abandoned (but still functional) Soviet LK lander. Anderson explores a nearby crater, describing the ground as "feeling softer". Inside the crater, he finds a dead cosmonaut as well as a broken space helmet. Walker queries Houston about the Soviet presence, but he is told only to continue with the mission. While they are sleeping, Walker is woken by strange noises and something bumping into the lander.