The scary appears to have returned to the Alien Franchise! Fede Alvarez’s take on the xenomorph goes back to the basics in Alien Romulus. The new teaser trailer is frantic and fearsome, giving hope for a return to form for the venerated franchise.
The Challenge for Fede Alvarez
The problem for the Alien franchise is that it has become too familiar. The mysteries have been revealed. We know how the life cycle works, we know what the xenomorph can do. The first two features are legendary and unimpeachable classics. Unfortunately, recent offerings from the franchise, despite big budgets, suffered from diminishing returns. How can director Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) provide the scares again?
David Fincher’s Alien 3 was hampered by studio interference and was unable to create clearly identifiable characters. Jean-Pierre Jeunet injected some absurdism and whimsey to the franchise, bringing some fun to the proceedings, but failed to feel like it was part of the same universe. Ridley Scott leaned heavily into symbolism and existential meanings in Prometheus and Alien Covenant but allowed the core story to slip into cliche and poor plot logic. These two films exposed Ridley pondering too much about the overarching background and not enough about the story structure at hand. The less we say about the pair of Aliens vs. Predator money grabs, the better.
The Promise of Alien Romulus.
While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
20th Century Studios
Enter Fede Alvarez. His background is pure horror, and the expectation is that he will bring his grisly style to the space where nobody can hear you scream. In a revealing YouTube interview with The Movie Podcast, Alvarez described his approach on following in the formidable footsteps of Scott and Cameron as if his production was a band.
We want this movie to be that show you’ve been waiting for, where they play all the hits, and plus we play these new songs.
Fede Alvarez on The Movie Podcast
A big theme in Alien Romulus is connected to the movie’s namesake. In a tale from Roman antiquity, Romulus and Remus were born the sons of the Roman god Mars. They were banished by King Amulius but were rescued and suckled to strength by a great she-wolf. The brothers teamed up to depose the King, but when the time came to found a new city, the brothers fought, and Remus was killed. Thus, Rome was created. (Otherwise, we would have gotten Remu!)
In this movie, the group of young colonists arrive at a great space station that was initially built as Remus, which dates back to the time of the movie Alien. The station has had a larger, more modern addition called Romulus, which dates to the movie Aliens. It will be interesting to see how this symbolism pays off. To extend the fraternal metaphor, the colonists comprise sibling or sibling-like pairs. It will be fascinating to see how this theme plays out.
The trailer explicitly references Alien and Aliens. It appears that this is a back-to-basics horror movie. A group of travelers arrive at a space station, get trapped, and have to survive an onslaught of face-huggers and xenomorphs. The trailer spoils very little, but the callbacks, particularly the bloody hyper-chamber from Alien and the frantic face-hugger attacks, are chilling.
Alvarez Consults with Scott and Cameron
Alvarez reveals in The Movie Podcast and in a great Hollywood Reporter interview that he contacted both Ridley Scott and James Cameron to get their insights and, hopefully, their approval. From Alvarez’s initial soft pitch for the story, Scott was involved early. The two directors collaborated on the film’s script, which Alvarez considers a career highlight. Cameron got to see the cut of the film and loved it. Interestingly, his comments were very different from Scott’s, almost in opposition to Scott’s notes.
Fede, what can I say? It’s fucking great!
Ridley Scott
Fortunately for Alvarez, he has had the experience of directing a key horror franchise. He directed the remake of The Evil Dead as his first American feature, and that film put him on the path to get him to Alien Romulus. To date, Alvarez’s horror credentials are unimpeachable. He knows how to build tension (Don’t Breathe), and he knows how to gross out an audience (The Evil Dead). 20th Century Studios is also on a bit of a hot streak with the favorably reviewed franchise sequel Prey (Predator) and the reboot of Hellraiser.
Everything shown in the trailer emanates the feels from Alien and Aliens. Alvarez promised a lot of practical effects as an homage to the originals. He admitted that this will read as a modern movie and that he is taking full advantage of what the latest in film FX technology allows him to show. So, it will be a blend of old and new. The trailer certainly suggests that the blend is working.
Cast and Crew:
Alien: Romulus has a young cast.
- Isabela Merced plays Kay
- Cailee Spaeny plays Rain Carradine
- David Jonsson plays Andy
- Archie Renaux, Aileen Wu, and Spike Fearn also star, but don’t yet have characters announced.
The Alien franchise has gone budget-conscious before, with Alien 3 and the Alien vs. Predator films, much to their detriment. Alien Romulus brings an impressive crew on board. Cinematographer Galo Olivares shot the lovely Gretel & Hansel and the Oscar-nominated Roma. The Composer, Benjamin Wallfisch, composed Blade Runner 2049. The Editor, Jake Roberts, was nominated for an Oscar for Hell or High Water (2017). The supervising Art Director, Adam O’Neill, designed Gladiator (2000), and Prometheus (2012).
Alien: Romulus will be released widely in theaters on August 16, 2024. It will certainly be rated R if it follows past precedence.