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We shed some light on the mysterious lunar adventure. By Eric Ditzian “Apollo 18” Photo: Dimension Films Let’s give the folks responsible for “Apollo 18″ some credit: The viral marketing campaign behind their moon-landing horror flick has been convincing enough that NASA has had to come out and declare , ” ‘Apollo 18’ is not a documentary. The film is a work of fiction.” We’re not exactly convinced the American public was starting to believe Apollo 18 wasn’t, in fact, a canceled moon mission but, as the film suggests, a cover-up to hide a gruesome lunar run-in with alien life forms. Nor are we certain a government statement will have any effect on conspiracy-minded kooks other than to make them think, “See, man, I told you — they’re hiding something!” “Apollo 18,” for its part, certainly is hiding something. The Weinstein Company is following the “Paranormal Activity” playbook, doling out only pieces of information about the “found-footage” film and hoping moviegoers shell out cash this weekend to find out the full story. We’ve gathered all those pieces together so you’ll know everything there is to know about “Apollo 18” before hitting the theater. Word of the project first popped up last fall. “Wanted” director Timur Bekmambetov was spearheading the effort, a story that would take the existing urban legend about Apollo 18 and inject some alien scares into it. A press release declared that Bekmambetov had been hired to shoot a documentary about the Russian space station and came across never-before-seen footage of the space disaster in Russia’s archives. Trevor Cawood, a visual-effects vet from the “Matrix” films, came onboard to direct, but he was quickly replaced by Spanish filmmaker Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego. The new director, in turn, was soon joined by a teaser poster : an astronaut’s boot print next to an alien creature’s print and the tagline looming above: “There’s a reason we’ve never gone back to the moon.” The trailer touched down on the Web in February. And we were immediately freaked out. What was up with the dusty, cracked space helmet? And that gnarly looking infection? And the zombie-looking dude? Questions — many, many gross questions. But we started to piece some of them together. NASA and the Department of Defense sent two astronauts to the moon on a secret mission in 1972. They discovered some non-American footprints. Had the Russians been there too? Hmmm. One of the NASA astronauts was bitten by some kind of alien creature, leading to a psychotic breakdown. Damnnnnn. Thus began the cover-up. Or the conspiracy theories. Heck, even NASA might have seen something coming, as an agency-commissioned study , called the Brookings Report, seems to predict the “discovery of artifacts from alien life forms on the surfaces of the Moon, Mars or Venus.” Spooky! All shall be revealed Friday (September 2), when “Apollo 18” hit theaters. Before then, we’ve got one last piece of video to bring you — and freak you the eff out. It’s got a terrified Russian astronaut, shaky footage of the lunar landscape and, well, we’re not exactly sure what happens at the end. But we’re pretty sure things didn’t end well for the spaceman. Check out everything we’ve got on “Apollo 18.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .

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‘Apollo 18’ Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know