It was hard not to get excited when it was announced just a few years ago that Fede Álvarez would be working his magic on a new Alien film. Álvarez was the directer of horror hits Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, the former of which was a film I found unrelentingly frightening. So, when the trailers starting dropping for Alien: Romulus, everything felt in its right place and that audiences were going to get some seriously scary shit.
Sadly, at least for me, I walked out of Alien: Romulus supremely underwhelmed by it all, left with the feeling that I’d seen it all before.
The story, as it begins, is different enough, as we’re introduced to Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), who lives on a mining colony with her adopted synthetic brother, Andy (David Jonsson). Desperate to get off planet, Rain joins up with a group to salvage stasis chambers from a derelict Weyland Yutani spacecraft. All of them soon find out that, while there may not be any humans left on the ship, there is something waiting for them.
The ensuing film proceeds to give us so much of what we’ve seen in every other Alien movie; chestbursters, acid blood, hidden Xenomorphs in the shadows, with some innovation here and there. it’s all fine and delivered with skill, but rarely, if ever, did I get that feeling of nervousness or tension I’d hoped for. Instead, as Alien: Romulus played out, I found myself sitting in my theatre chair, just waiting for whatever was next.
I’ve written previously that I’m an easy scare; a movie, in theory, doesn’t have to do much to get me to cover my eyes or squirm in my seat. I want that feeling when I go to a horror film. Unfortunately, not once did Alien: Romulus have me feeling remotely that way.
When I did react to the film, it was when it pulled out its various nods to previous instalments, including one very specific callback that I won’t spoil here except to say it is a morally suspect decision that, while well done, left me wondering if it should have been done. The rest range from the clever to the gratuitous, and already have the internet debating Alien: Romulus’ reliance on fan service.
While the film did have its moment for me, including strong performances from both Spaeny and Jonsson, and a great blink and you miss it image lifted directly from Dark Horse Comics’ original Aliens comic series, even in the hands of an esteemed horror director like Fede Álvarez, Alien: Romulus ultimately suffers under the weight of familiarity and predictability.
