The Alien franchise is one of the longest-running horror franchises and with Alien: Romulus is a fascinating new thread to this tapestry. Set in between Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus follows a ragtag young group of colonists looking to make a better life for themselves. Unfortunately, they may have made a terrible mistake when they sought to loot an abandoned research station.
Alien Romulus stars a relatively unknown cast. Fede Álvarez directs it and it is, in my opinion, a thrilling twist in the Alien franchise. Much like Alien this follows an intimate cast as they strive to survive against a force they are woefully unprepared for.
What works for Alien: Romulus is its impressive production value, the research station looks brilliant. The lighting is suitably moody and watching the facehuggers, and xenomorphs running around is brilliant. This is especially true in one particular scene where the gang have to find their way through a facehugger-infested area of the space station. It’s eerie, it’s creepy and it’s visceral, leaving you feeling suitably uneasy.
Run
Now every Alien film holds up from the strength of its characters, in my opinion at least. And in the case of Alien: Romulus it is a story filled with relatively memorable characters. Cailee Spaeny plays Rain, the heroine of the story. Along with her protective “brother” Andy (David Jonsson), Rain wants a better life with her friends Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced) Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and Navarro (Aileen Wu).
Everyone comes with an impressive level of emotion. You worry for them and you feel their pain when someone dies. They do have to tackle a lot of ropey dialogue, that is in my opinion, television drama level at times. The acting of the cast does elevate it. This brings me to my favourite element of the film, Andy. Andy is the latest android to enter the pantheon of androids within the Alien universe and he is a brilliant addition. This boils down to Jonsson’s portrayal of the character. He is Rain’s devoted protector, but as the story unfolds he finds himself evolving in a twisted kind of fashion.
You have my sympathy
Now on to some of the issues I had with the film. I think I’m done with the xenomorphs, they may have run their course. What terrified me in this film were the facehuggers. Álvarez utilizes the facehuggers to sensational effect, he breathes new life into them and they’ve never been as scary since their debut all those decades ago.
On top of this Álvarez is slavishly devoted to the legacy of the the Alien franchise. Much like his Evil Dead film, it feels like Alien: Romulus wants us to remember all the iconic moments from all the films. This is rarely good. There are several moments that feel ripped from some of the poorer entries in the franchise and threaten to derail this film and stop it from establishing itself as a standalone film.
Thankfully though, with an impressive cinematic style and an engaging cast, Alien: Romulus is a thrilling entry in the long-running horror franchise.
Stay tuned to Scannain for more news, reviews and interviews.