The Alien film series is ostensibly a horror franchise with elements of science fiction.

The basic story formula tracks a group of space colonizers heading out into the darkest depths of outer space and fight for survival when aliens enter their ship. The fear is visceral, relentless, and adrenaline-pumping. There is little respite for them because they only buy a little time until the aliens find a new way to terrorize the crew. At the end of each film, the aliens appear to be overcome, but for how long?

This is the essence of Alien (1979), Alien3, Alien: Covenant, and now, Alien: Romulus. There was also the James Cameron film Aliens (1986) where Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) seeks to re-establish contact with the colony. The technologically-advanced space travel adds sci-fi elements to it, but at its emotional core, it’s still a horror movie. The writing is visceral and urgent with fewer contemplative, gentle moments.

Alien: Romulus is set between Alien and Aliens, although it subtly tips its hat to its predecessors. Changing the key template of the franchise would be like pulling out the wrong Jenga stick. But still, Alien: Romulus needs to feel fresh and modern. Same but new. But not too new.

Romulus builds, maintains, and occasionally releases its emotional levers through a mix of fear, tension, claustrophobia and genuine gory horror. The workers are constantly running out of places to hide and the aliens aren’t letting up. The first half of the film is a relatively slow-burn buildup focusing on character development, tension and dread, which neatly segues into the heart-pounding chase of the second half.

Fede Alvarez. Photo by Murray Close/ 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

The Renaissance Space Station is composed of two areas – Romulus (nod to Aliens) and Remus (nod to Alien). Combined, they refer the to Roman myth of two brothers who discovered Rome – the former killing the latter. There is a vague mythological reference to this story when one close family member kills the other.

Alien: Romulus uses a ‘race against time’ approach to get the adrenaline pumping. Tyler initially approaches Rain, but they soon realize they can’t escape on their own. Andy, as a synthetic, has access to areas with restricted access. This theoretically creates a viable escape plan for all of them. All they need to do is find the cryogenic space pods in a decommissioned outpost and escape within thirty-six hours according to Andy. Once they find them, they are short on fuel which ratchets up the stakes.

Alien: Romulus: Years In The Making

Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) met with James Cameron early in the development process of Romulus many years ago and discussed a pivotal scene from Aliens that really resonated with Alvarez. “There is a deleted scene in ‘Aliens,’ where a bunch of kids are running among the workers in the colony,” explains Álvarez. These children would eventually become young adults and capable of forging their futures. This is the bedrock of Alien: Romulus which leans into many YA stories.

This planted the seed for character Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) who believes she’s fulfilled her service to the corporation, but her release date has been pushed very far back. So she’s stuck on Jackson’s Star Mining Colony. With her fellow mining workers on the colony, she’s forced to scavenge a decommissioned space station in search of parts to help them flee.

Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) & Andy (David Jonsson) Photo by Murray Close/ 20th Century Studios

The thing with Alien: Romulus is that makes full use of the alien and corporate lore to reveal a touching character drama about an orphan who wants to escape in search of freedom, peace, stability, and eventually, a home. This is globally relatable with its US vs THEM theme.

Álvarez’s horror sensibilities from his film background were the impetus for his tonal vision for Romulus. It is visceral, ‘from the gut’ scares. facehuggers, chestbursters and all.

“I knew that I wanted to take this chapter back to the beginning, not only story-wise but in terms of visual style,” explains Alvarez. “I wanted to keep it simple and focus on a few characters you could get to know and love.” Romulus isn’t saddled with extraneous characters. It’s all stripped down to basic characters.

Found Family

Romulus follows an actual family/ found family hybrid to explore its character dynamics. This creates tension within that family which further elevates the tension of fighting the monster aliens.

The film tracks the emotional turbulence Rain Carradine and her crew face as they battle the aliens. Rain’s late father is the villain who put’s the corporation’s interests ahead of everything, including his daughter.

Rain and her surrogate android brother Andy (David Jonsson), is a synthetic and typical protective older brother until there’s a change of plan. Tyler (Archie Renaux) Rain’s ex-boyfriend, his younger sister Kay (Isabela Merced), their cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and pilot and Bjorn’s girlfriend Navarro (Aileen Wu) round out the YA characters. The Rain-Andy relationship is perhaps the most developed and tested in the film.

The unifying theme of this diverse crew echoes the plight of today’s youth. The corporation has exploited and deceived them and they’re forced to leave in search of new opportunities.