Alien: Romulus Trailer Focuses on Horror
Get ready to scream in space again. Today, 20th Century Studios (which is 20th Century Fox under its new, Disney-mandated banner) released a trailer for Alien: Romulus, the latest installment in the long-running sci-fi franchise. Not much is known about the plot, but it involves “a group of young people on a distant world” who have to fight the Alien or – more likely – Aliens. Alien: Romulus stars Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. Directed by Fede Álvarez from a script by Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues, Alien: Romulus will arrive in theaters on August 16, 2024. You can see the trailer below:
The Alien: Romulus trailer certainly is atmospheric, and that’s a good sign; I believe the key to good horror is atmosphere, something movies rarely bother with nowadays (and also why I tend to like horror better in books than movies). That long, winding shot through the space ship’s corridors that ends with the bloody bed is more effective than all the quick shots of facehuggers and their monstrous seedlings. I don’t know much about the actors; I saw Isabela Merced in Madame Web, but bringing that up is just mean. Cailee Spaeny was in Bad Times at the El Royale (a very good movie), but I don’t remember her. The rest are complete mysteries to me, which makes sense since they’re supposed to be kids. I’m equally unfamiliar with the creatives, having never seen anything Fede Álvarez or Rodo Sayagues have been involved with. But I like the look of the trailer, especially because it focuses on horror. I’m way over the Alien franchise and, like many other undead series, wish Hollywood would let it rest in peace, but Alien: Romulus looks about as good as an Alien movie can get at this point.
