Alien fans have begged for a return to form in the franchise as the spinoffs and prequels tended to focus on mythos and not being spooky. Alien: Romulus, the seventh film in the Alien franchise, hopes to give fans what they want.
Directed by Fede Álvarez of Evil Dead (2013) and Don’t Breathe (2016) fame, Alien: Romulus is a mid-sequel between the events of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). Most fans go to a new Alien film hoping to experience the magic of the original film, with all respect to James Cameron’s great but action-focused sequel.
Can an up-and-coming horror film director like Álvarez resurrect the signature dread that made the original film an instant classic? Is it even possible to make ties to the original and now-convoluted series lore? Find out in our mostly spoiler-free Alien: Romulus review!
Alien: Romulus
Production Company: Scott Free Productions, Brandywine Productions
Distributor: 20th Century Studios
Director: Fede Álvarez
Release Date: August 16, 2024
When the franchise got later sequels like Alien: Resurrection, they were reviled by fans everywhere. The genuine fear and anxiety leading up to the next gruesome death wasn’t there. Thankfully, Alien: Romulus doesn’t feel so much like a return to form as it does a greatest hits of the franchise.
The film stars Cailee Spaeny as Rain, an orphan on a Weyland-Yutani mining colony, and her surrogate android brother Andy (David Jonsson), both of whom dream to leave their sunless rock for a new world. Their transfer request denied when Yutani Corp raises their servitude, they turn to desperate measures.
Diehard fans of the original Alien will squeal when seeing the eerily similar intro moments with its retro sci-fi analog hardware turning on, chugging and beeping away. Viewers are treated to lavishly dingy sets and oodles of extras as the two seek out help to escape a fate stuck mining.
Rain and Andy meet up with Tyler (Archie Renaux), Rain’s ex-boyfriend and his crew, who propose to go explore a seemingly abandoned space station orbiting near their planet. The goal is recovering cryonic hypersleep chambers so they can survive the 9 year trip to a distant planet.
Shortly after docking at the abandoned space station Tyler, his cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Andy find the cryonic sleep chambers but discover they need more fuel. The space station is creepy and reminiscent of something out of Dead Space, further enhanced by spectacular shots and tension.
It just so happens that more cryo fuel is stored in the same place that some unfortunate guests are housed in, so when our unsuspecting 20-somethings remove some fuel, the room gets hotter. Tension is palpable and once set up is done, chaos ensues and the film generally doesn’t stop the thrills after this moment.
Andy, Tyler, and Bjorn trapped in the cryo room prompts Rain and ship pilot Navarro (Aileen Wu) to enter the space station and try helping. Andy gets an upgrade which dramatically alters his personality and the ragtag bunch escapes, or so they thought.
The party now split with Andy, Rain, and Tyler stranded on the space station and Bjorn trying to escape with Navarro (his girlfriend) and Tyler’s sister Kay (Isabela Merced), things really get bad from this point onward. Just when you think there’s a breather, the film picks up again and the fright is back.
Álvarez’s focus on real sets and practical effects comes into full display with the gnarly xenomorphs, which look slimier and grosser than ever. All of the calamity leads into the first death of the film, which managed to still wow this reviewer despite knowing how xenomorphs reproduce for years. One thing of note is that Facehuggers seemed less threatening but more numerous, though perhaps that was the trade-off made in the film.
Avoiding spoilers there’s a certain callback to the first Alien film that while thoughtful and a key plot point, it’s done with CGI that is at best off-putting and strange. This bit of uncanny CGI stands out even harder when the majority of the film is hellbent on real sets and practical effects, ultimately making it a net negative on the film.
The entire cast plays their part well, most especially Spaeny as Rain and Jonsson as Andy, though some of the characters have very thick British accents and at times sound indecipherable. Andy, on the other hand, inherits a very clear British accent when upgraded, so it balances out I guess. The much younger cast gives a very different almost “Cabin in the Woods” feel when compared to the original cast but ultimately they perform well.
Uncanny CGI aside the star of the film is Cailee Spaeny, an unlikely heroine that reacts accordingly to the increasingly hopeless mission of survival. As the extrasolar horror show keeps piling on scares and gore, Spaeny builds up a calm yet firm resolve towards the end – completing her ascent into a hero like her forebear Ellen Ripley.
As mentioned earlier Alien: Romulus is certainly a greatest hits of Alien horror that fans will devour, bringing back several gruesome concepts from previous films (even if they were canonically prior or later). While avoiding spoilers again, the film teases just enough of the greater Alien universe and lore while giving fans what they want: violent and terrifying extraterrestrials bodying vastly inferior humans.
It could be argued that Alien: Romulus doesn’t really do anything new and might even be a rehash of the original film – heck it’s beginning moments feel quiet similar to the original film. I will make the argument that Alien fans wanted a genuinely spooky film sequel and not too much weird stuff like bringing Ripley back for the umpteenth time. We all love Sigourney Weaver as Ripley but perhaps the time has time to pass the baton onto a new heroine like Rain.
The latter half of the film really does pick up the pure terror of the original film with a very pulse-pounding score by Benjamin Wallfisch, heightening the dread and the fear factor. The sweeping score goes from classic science-fiction wonder to absolute soul-crushing dread, with smatterings of goosebump-inducing eeriness in between.
Even the very beginning of the film, with its very ominous imagery, gets a delightfully spooky theme full of chants and spine-tingling instruments. I’d daresay the soundtrack even feels at times reminiscent of the late great Jerry Goldsmith’s original score from the first film, mimicking the threatening yet beautiful feel it evoked decades ago.
Alien: Romulus is a win for longtime fans and proves that the four decade-old franchise still has life in it, and can be revived from the deepest parts of space. Fede Álvarez managed to recapture the hair-raising fear that audiences have loved for so long, giving us a glimpse into what an Alien film for fans, by fans, can produce.
It’s worth mentioning I went into watching Alien: Romulus after being on media blackout (as I do with any planned reviews) so on the whole it felt like a grotesque yet nostalgic thrill ride. It may not grab you by the face like our phallic foes, but Alien: Romulus grabs you by the throat with its unrelenting dread and suspense. Highly recommended.
Alien: Romulus was reviewed in theaters by Niche Gamer. Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. Alien: Romulus released in theaters on August 16, 2024.
