Alien: Romulus. First viewers amazed by the bloody return of the cult space horror franchise

Director Ridley Scott once created one of the most terrifying creatures in all of cinema - the xenomorph. It was the main antagonist in the iconic 1979 film Alien and spawned an entire movie universe, which has been developing for almost 50 years.

This summer, another sci-fi horror has been added to the list - Alien: Romulus. It premiered in Ukrainian cinemas on August 15. Judging by the reviews of Western critics, fans of the genre should not miss it.

This time, Scott has retained his spot on the production team, together with a young horror director Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, Don't Breathe). His new work tells the story of a group of young colonizers of space discovering something terrible in the depths of the abandoned space station. It's a separate branch of the story, set between the events of Scott's Alien (1979) and James Cameron's Aliens (1986).

Young actors Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu are the main cast. Alvarez co-wrote the screenplay with his longtime collaborator Rodo Sayagues.

Initial reviews from critics are encouraging. On the Rotten Tomatoes service at the time of this post, the rating for Romulus was 82% and in the "fresh" zone. Some are calling Alvarez's work one of the best installments of the franchise since its beginning in 1979.

Thus, Germain Lussier of Gizmodo called the picture "roller coaster of sci-fi carnage" in his review on X/Twitter. He noted that the new work uses snippets from all of the previous ones and when "viewed as a whole, the result is a unique, standout—and standalone—work that’s oddly familiar but still exciting and fresh."

Variety's Jazz Tangcay agrees with his colleague. "Fede Álvarez doesn't disappoint," he wrote on his X blog. "Awesome sound design and world-building. The practical effects are so good that the film gave me nightmares," the critic admitted.

Film critic Courtney Howard called Alien: Romulus exciting and strikingly dark, and the director's approach to presenting the story innovative.

Tessa Smith, who runs the Mama's Geeky blog, pointed out that the new film honors the original by using quality special effects. She also noted the pace of the movie, which starts off slowly, and then picks up so much momentum that it becomes impossible to tear yourself away from the screen.

Separately, critics praise the game of the main actors - Spaeny and Jonsson. Eric Vespe from The Kingcast podcast called them a great pair. And movie critic Rachel Leishman praised the chemistry between the characters, which draws the viewer closer.

It is known that the author of the original Alien Ridley Scott gave up his duties as director of this part after he shot the prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. He worked closely with Alvarez, developing the plot for Alien: Romulus, and constantly praised the director for breathing new life into the franchise.

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