Lunopolis

US 98m, Colour Director: Matthew Avant; Cast: Dave Potter, Jed Himel, Matthew Avant, Hal Maynor, Nathan Avant, Sarah Avant, Arte Richard

A documentary styled film that is reminiscent of Alternative 3 (1977), Lunopolis is a science fiction film surrounding the discovery of a time machine. The film maker's investigations lead them to a conspiracy involving a Scientology-like cult and their control over knowledge surrounding the settlement of the moon and time travel which is used to reshape earth's future by changing events in the past. An excellently scripted production, Lunopolis is a well-crafted low-budget movie that contains some unexpectedly good special effects, and opening and closing scenes which neatly bookend this entertaining film (Klaus Ming July 2013).

This is just another independent mock documentary film in the same vein as Blair Witch Project, District 9, This Is Spinal Tap, Paranormal Entity, Dark Side of the Moon, the list is endless. I fail to see anything other than another slightly above average film.

The acting for the most part is well thought out. However I thought some scenes were off the mark. Such as the film maker brandishing a pistol in the church? The motive was initially just curiosity and it would seem this changes in the documentary from that to "it is up to us to save the world".

The time and space paradox is never well explored. The plot is not that hard to follow but has some real silly scientific holes in it. For example; The part about "painting" over the moon photos, when anyone can clearly see the moon with the aid of a decent telescope or a pair of quality binoculars. Making a great deal of the film hard to swallow.

The independent South-Louisiana filmmakers who produce this film were pretty much spot on when it comes to low-budget documentary style filmmaking. You do have a lot of choices when it comes to documentary style films about the moon and moon conspiracies but I would say this is one of the ones to watch. The concept is great and does not attempted pander or talk down to its audience. The people being interviewed were spot on, great acting for non-actors. The director has potential but is still learning the ropes and could use some experience. But still pretty good ... For a low-budget film the cinematography was good and I found the film to be cut quite well. Again good job guys it's always nice to see a fellow Louisianian come up in the film industry. Rock on and keep it up ...

Lunopolis had an interesting premise, and the writers and director show a lot of promise by telling a good, suspenseful story.

Unfortunately, the film is let down by it's obviously minuscule budget. The format of the film (documentary style) does lend itself to a low-budget production, but there are many points where the lack of cash is apparent enough to pull you out of the story.

For one thing, there are a few brief special effect scenes that have zero authenticity to them whatsoever. The director would have been better off finding another way to treat the material, because a bad effect is far worse than no effect at all. Another thing that pulled me right out of the film was the scene at the cult compound. They clearly had no money for extras, wardrobe or stylists, so instead of a scene featuring intimidating, creepy, authentic-looking security guards in black suits (as intended), you have a couple of dorks in cheap sunglasses and clothes that don't fit, trying their best to look tough (and failing). It was pretty bad.

Anyway, as I said, it's an interesting film. I do wish they had the money to execute properly though, because it could have been much, much better.

I picked this movie up late one night on Hulu, quite casually, not knowing a thing about it.

Fast forward an hour later and I'm watching the movie with a rifle across my lap, terrified to continue but too engrossed to stop.

It isn't perfect, you can tell it's low budget at parts, but that doesn't stop it from being better than it has any right to be. The plot may be out-there, and the characters and dialogue ripped from a college campus, but Mother of God is it entertaining. I can't really say much about what happens, but if you like a good story, and love being creeped all the hell out, then drop the hour and a half. You can't do much better.