By John Corrado

The seventh instalment in the Alien franchise that began in 1979, Alien: Romulus is a spinoff sequel that is set somewhere between the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s 1986 followup Aliens.

Directed by Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, the Evil Dead remake), Romulus shares a lot of DNA with Scott’s original, in that it’s a proper mix of sci-fi and horror, with a gritty, retro vibe to it. In fact, Alvarez’s screenplay, which he co-wrote with his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues, has such a reverence for the first one that at times it feels closer to a copy, and I sort of mean that as a compliment.

This is to say that Alien: Romulus follows the expected beats of an Alien picture, but does so pretty well; the film works because it is trying to be an old school Alien movie, plain and simple. Alvarez has delivered enough of a throwback to please fans, while also proving himself to be completely competent at crafting a somewhat standalone space adventure to reboot the franchise.

The main character is Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), a young woman who works alongside her adopted brother Andy (David Jonsson), a malfunctioning android programmed by their late parents to keep her safe. They are part of a group of space colonists – Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and Navarro (Aileen Wu) – who are essentially stuck working as indentured servants. The group begins exploring an abandoned space station, in hopes of using it as a way to escape. Little do they know that their is an alien organism onboard that uses humans as a host.

That’s basically the gist of it. The story is pretty simple, but mostly effective at what it sets out to do. The first act has them exploring their surroundings aboard the space station. It’s all foreboding and moments of discovery, while steadily building tension towards an appropriately gross finale. Alvarez delivers the jump-scares and moments of xenomorph gore that we expect from the franchise, only dabbling in the more heady philosophical underpinnings of Scott’s prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

No stranger to gory effects, Alvarez puts a heavy focus on the face-huggers and chest-bursters this time around, adding a genuine body horror element to the film that gets more extreme as it goes along. The practical effects and old fashioned technology add to the grimy, throwback feel of Alien: Romulus, with cinematographer Galo Olivares even doing his best to mimic the look of the 1979 original. The use of sound, as well as the musical score by Benjamin Wallfisch, add to the sense of unease and tension.

Spaeny does a fine job carrying the film, getting her share of Sigourney Weaver as Ripley moments that prove she can be a real movie star. The other standout of the cast is Jonsson, who brings a surprising amount of empathy to his portrayal of an “artificial person” trying to follow his directive to protect his human sibling. Yes, Alien: Romulus can feel somewhat derivative of the earlier films and is largely fan service. But it works as a well-crafted sci-fi creature feature that delivers the suspense and grisly alien body horror, with enough callbacks and references to the earlier films to please fans.

Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)

Alien: Romulus opens exclusively in theatres as of August 16th.