Legacy sequels are a recent trend, and we’ve had enough of them to be able to pick out what works and what doesn’t. While I really liked Hellraiser (2022) and Halloween Ends (2022), I wasn’t a fan of where they took The Exorcist: Believer (2023) or Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024). A personal opinion on a legacy sequel is a very subjective one as we all look at the direction of these series’ differently and that has led to a very eclectic roster of films in the Alien franchise. 

Every Alien sequel has someone in its corner defending it and championing the film as the best one since the original — except Alien vs. Predator: Requiem of course. I found Aliens (1986) and Prometheus (2012) to be the only sequels worth investing time into. The announcement of this film even had me interested entirely in the fact that Fede Alvarez was coming in to direct. His Evil Dead remake is my favorite installment of that franchise, so I was immediately sold on it.

Alien Romulus, Alvarez’s newest film, follows a crew of young colonists who discover a decommissioned station in their system and see it as a way out of their current situation. In hopes of escaping and making their way to a better part of the galaxy, they go to the station to ravage parts that can be used to complete their mission. They soon discover unexpected guests and the real purpose of the craft when they start exploring the station.

Fede Alvarez has an immense talent for taking old franchises and breathing new life into them. The way he was able to elevate the Evil Dead series from a place where it was seen as goofy to a truly scary level was magnificent. Little elements from the franchise that were seen as comedic bits were turned into nightmarish visions through Alvarez’s lens. He took this franchise that has become known for throwaway sequels and brought it back to its true horror roots.

Like The Terminator (1984), Alien started out as one horror film about a specific form of science-fiction that, through a certain lens, becomes completely unnerving. Through the new viewpoint of Fede Alvarez, things that were tired in this franchise became scary again, like the acid blood and the way the Aliens traverse the world and interact with the humans. He was able to find the right balance to make the audience squirm and audibly react. 

The big factor that makes his style work for this franchise is tension. Fede Alvarez knows how to find the tension point of any scene, and he proves it through multiple moments in this film. There’s a horror in the loud moments that he can capture, but he also finds the true terror in the quiet moments, which makes the viewing experience more thrilling. Fede Alvarez brought both the tension and the gore, two things he’s fantastic at.

Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson deliver the best performances of the film, which also help to bring out the heart of the story. Their sibling relationship helps the audience root for something throughout the film, and the writers do a fantastic job weaving it throughout the runtime. The rest of the cast does an amazing job strengthening the interpersonal web, which helps deepen the tension. The only issue I have with the film is also relative to the cast, but it’s technically a spoiler. They did something with a character from an older film that didn’t really add any weight to the film and almost took away from the experience because of how it was handled technically. I would have been fine with it if the character wasn’t such a crucial part of the story. 

Two of my favorite parts of a film are the sound design and the cinematography. Both elements are used to their highest level, as everything from the sound mix in both loud and quiet scenes to the color grading enhances the experience. The practicality of the monsters and the sets helped as well. The decision to go completely practical with the aliens and the set pieces helped me fully invest in the film’s world. 

The use of practical sets and effects, including the aliens, helped deliver a more enriching experience watching the film. I’ve always been a strong believer that practical will always look and age better than digital and this film once again proves that physical design and sets always yield a more genuine experience. The 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) pen scene will always look impressive and the way they were able to pull it off has a lot to do with that. The practical effects will help add a timeless quality to this film that will make it outlast many others coming out at this moment in time. 

The best thing Alien: Romulus does is blend the strong horror elements of the original Alien with the action-packed thrills in James Cameron’s Aliens. Both sides of the coin work well together with the right formula or balance, and this film finds that equilibrium. Every Alien film past Aliens has this issue, and only a couple really got past it to become a rewatchable flick. Alien: Romulus is thankfully one sequel that breaks past the limitations set out by previous films and delivers an experience that shares the same essence and spirit as the original. This film was never going to be the original, but the blending of the best elements of the franchise puts Alien: Romulus in the same league as its phenomenal original inspiration.

Alien: Romulus is the best film we’ve gotten from the Alien franchise since the 1980s. Alvarez injects it with his chaotic horror sauce and delivers something that stands above many in the genre at this moment in time. The performances, specifically Spaeny and Jonsson, and the decision to film practically and put some care into how it looks, how if sounds and tension built from that helped elevate this one from being just another sequel to something standout. 

This is an Alien film that feels spiritually linked to the 70s vibe of the original but also seems like the natural progression the franchise would go into if they stayed on the horror path. All involved pulled the best elements out of the Alien franchise and delivered the most thrilling and engaging experience we could have gotten from a new Alien film. A truly great Sci-Fi Horror experience at the cinema that everyone should go out and see. 

Review Courtesy of Becca Harleen

Image credit to 20th Century Studios via The Hollywood Studio