Summary
2017’sLifeis underrated, but the upcomingAliensequelAlien: Romulusmakes a rewatch of the sci-fi horror perfectly timed. Sci-fi horror is a tricky blend to get right. For every hit like 1979’sAlien, there is a slew of lesser efforts like 1985’sCreature, 1981’sGalaxy of Terror, or the same year’s unintentionally hilariousInseminoid. AlthoughtheAlienmovieshave sometimes managed to capture the perfect balance between sci-fi world-building and straightforward scares, not all of them have gotten this right. Luckily,2024’s rebootAlien: Romuluslooks set to fix this.
Director Fede Alvarez’s reboot promises to bring the franchise back to its roots. Like the original movie,Alien: Romulus’ claustrophobic plot follows a few helpless heroes as they are picked off by a lethal Xenomorph on an isolated spacecraft. This storyline sounds exciting precisely because it eschews all the unnecessary additions that made 2017’sAlien: Covenantand its predecessor, 2012’sPrometheus, feel overstuffed, talky, and overly self-serious. The year of the underwhelming prequelAlien: Covenant’s release was also home to another underrated sci-fi horror movie that sharedAlien: Romulus’ admirable simplicity, along with some of the reboot’s plot elements.
What Alien: Romulus' Title Really Means In The New Movie
While Alien: Romulus’s title has been a mystery for some time, the Alien movie’s new trailer finally reveals how the title ties into its story.
2017’s Life Is Now Streaming On Netflix
Alien: Romulus And Life Share A Lot of Creative DNA
2017’sLifestarred Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ryan Reynolds as astronauts who encounter an alien life form while deep in space. Their ship’s small crew dub the creature “Calvin” and initially marvel at its evolution, amazed to have discovered actual extraterrestrial life. Their wonder soon sours into horror when Calvin starts killing the crew viciously, proving to be as intelligent as it is deadly. WhileAlien: Romulus’s twistsremain a mystery for now, the sequel seems set to borrow fromLife’s successful playbook.Lifetakes its time establishing its characters, ensuring viewers care about them before Calvin arrives.
One shocking early death proves thatLifeis utterly unpredictable, leaving viewers with no idea who will make it until the ending.Life’s pitilessly cruel ending is more mean-spirited than anything in theAlienseries, although it is reminiscent ofAlien: Romulusdirector Fede Alvarez’s output. The twist shares the same twisted sense of black humor that can be seen in 2013’sEvil Deadreboot and 2016’sDon’t Breathe, both of which Alvarez directed. This ending is not the only similarity between the two movies.Lifealso boasts a small, limited cast, making its deaths more impactful.
Both Sci-Fi Horror Movies Prioritize Scares And Gore
WhileAlien: Romulus’s Xenomorphs seem to be plentiful, the movie only has a small number of characters for the monsters to attack.Life’s small-scale nastiness felt like a breath of fresh air after Ridley Scott’sAlienprequels were more concerned with philosophical debates about science and faith than gore and horror. In much the same way,Alien: Romulus’s trailers promise horrific deaths aplenty much like the ironically titledLife. As such, there is no better time for viewers to go back and check out the underratedLifebeforeAlien: Romulus’sAlienreboot borrows some of its best qualities.
