I don't know what to tell you if you’re not sold on Alien: Romulus after the first trailer drop. We’re only months away from watching a Fede Álvarez Alien movie, and that’s righteous. I’ve greatly admired Álvarez’s horror output since 2013’s Evil Dead “requel” (remake + sequel) and fawned over the creative pairing of Álvarez and Xenomorphs since it was announced. It seemed too good to be true: Álvarez’s proven talents behind the camera are a perfect match to drag the Alien franchise clawing and hissing back into hardcore horror territory. And certain shots in the Alien: Romulus teaser already showcase what I’ve thought all along — that 20th Century Studios made the perfect choice in hiring Fede Álvarez.
The Alien franchise started as the gold standard of interstellar horror: “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Its evolution since then has veered into experimental territories, with the first sequel Aliens embracing space-marine action vibes and something like 2012’s Prometheus exploring harder science fiction existentialism. Alien hasn’t felt outright terrifying outside a few scattered scenes since Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterclass — if we’re only talking about the movies. (Shout out to Alien: Isolation for presenting the series as straightforward horror once again with the most nerve-shredding Xenomorph representation in video game simulations.)
A Slick and Deeply Unsettling Style
Álvarez’s tendencies as a horror filmmaker make him an obvious yet inspired choice to bring back those full-throttle screams to the Alien franchise. His Evil Dead is a hellish and visually repugnant take on Sam Raimi’s iconic Deadite series, reverting a different franchise to straightforward horror beginnings. Then there’s Don’t Breathe, his second collaboration with Evil Dead actress Jane Levy, which is an intense entrapment scenario about hunters and prey. While The Girl in the Spider's Web isn’t really a horror film, his signatures are still there in the way scenes naturally veer towards genre darkness — Álvarez boasts a slick and deeply unsettling style when he chooses, which is often.
Álvarez has a knack for supersizing the frightening potential of closed spaces and in-your-face horror visuals which feels right for Alien: Romulus. Evil Dead takes place mainly inside a musty remote cabin, and Don’t Breathe stays trapped inside Norman Nordstrom’s death trap of a Detroit residence. Both movies accentuate claustrophobic suspense and inescapable dread, and one can see how that would work perfectly for travelers stuck aboard spaceships. We already see glimpses of the tight quarters and dimly lit hallways in the Romulus trailer, playing right into Álvarez’s strengths as a filmmaker who maximizes the atmospheric distress of stranded characters. Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe exude an unshakable graveness, even after multiple watches, which can only benefit an Alien film about extraterrestrial monsters picking off fleshy targets.
There are two scenes specifically that deserve to be called out. In Evil Dead, it’s when Shiloh Fernandez’s David is attacked all J-Horror style in the cabin’s dank basement as Deadite Mia lunches forward in strobing visibility. In Don’t Breathe, it’s any time Norman comes within sniffing range of Jane’s Rocky or the other invading criminals, as Stephen Lang’s blind veteran stalks about like an inhuman creature. Álvarez’s control over tone and pacing confirms he can do it all, whether unleashing a massive jump scare or letting us wallow in discomfort for elongated confrontations with danger. Evil Dead is so ‘effin scary, while Don’t Breathe is noose-taut for an impressively long duration. These attributes blended into a sole vision give us an idea of what Alien: Romulus can be.
70,000 Gallons of Fake Blood and Pushing Boundaries
Evil Dead is also a practical effects extravaganza that utilizes way more workshop craftsmanship than you’d expect from a film filled with sliced-open cheeks and electric carving knives sawing through resistant cartilage. Álvarez and his team relied on optical illusions and magic tricks (no, seriously), giving Evil Dead a viscerally appalling yet fantastically gory sense of reality. The Alien movies are no stranger to tangible gross-out effects, from the acidic slime that gloops out of Xenomorph mouths to the Chestbursters and all the body-horror elements inspired by H. R. Giger’s designs. There’s an inherent ickiness to Alien effects that plays right into Álvarez’s wheelhouse, and we’ve already gotten a glimpse of what he has in store for us: The Facehugger removal around the 39-second mark in the teaser trailer features a goo-slick tentacle being pulled out a character’s mouth with squelchy noises. NOPE.
Let’s not forget that Álvarez used an estimated 70,000 gallons of fake blood on the Evil Dead set. If anyone is going to splatter a cosmic vessel bright red with spilled insides, it’s this guy.
More than anything, Álvarez has shown a desire to push boundaries beyond the expected. Anyone can lay an Alien template down and execute as ordered, but that’s never been what the franchise has been about. Aliens is James Cameron’s militaristic take on Xenomorph combat; Alien 3 is David Fincher’s dark and broody oddball; Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are Ridley Scott’s high-fantasy dives into Xenomorph lore. None of these films play safe, nor does Álvarez in the way he spun the Necronomicon’s curse into a hyper-violent survival tale that ends with a demonic battle under blood rain sprinklers. Don’t Breathe is as divisive a thriller as they come, but that’s because Álvarez strives to tell stories that have us fearing in ways we’ve yet to experience.
Playing the Classics With That Álvarez Spin
We’ll no doubt get classic Xenomorph moments, including that lil’ mini-mouth surprise, but Álvarez isn’t one to pander. That’s clear even from his work as a producer on Netflix’s widely debated Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Or his breakout short film “Panic Attack,” which sics gigantic robots on Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo. As landmarks crumble and Álvarez puts forth his best riff on Battle Los Angeles meets Cloverfield, you get a sense of his endless ambitions even within the limits of a four-minute video. He’s not going to deliver something like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire that embarrassingly relies on nostalgia callbacks and spoon-feeding what creators think Ghostbusters faithful want to see. Alien fans should expect Álvarez to push as far as the studio would let him, which is when he’s at his best.
A prime example is the trailer shot of characters fleeing from a swarm of Facehuggers, like something out of Halo’s Flood-based missions. Facehuggers have attacked many times before (thinking of Ripley and Newt’s medical bay incident), but never in such quantity or formation. Álvarez’s twisted creativity is on full display in a few seconds, instantly confirming that he and writing partner Rodo Sayagues aren’t just recycling past ideas — they’re introducing new nightmare scenarios into Alien canon. That’s what they did extremely well on Evil Dead too. Álvarez’s Evil Dead movie isn’t just another Evil Dead entry — it’s Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead. He doesn’t take established franchise gigs to follow orders (no matter how The Girl in the Spider’s Web turned out); Evil Dead showed that the filmmaker can make his movies his own while also meeting existing lore or moneymaker trademarks on his level, bending them into new, exhilarating shapes without breaking anything in the process.
At the end of the day, Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe are the two comparison points that’ll predict what we can (probably) expect from Alien: Romulus. Everything about Álvarez’s techniques shines bright like a diamond in the first trailer’s brief timeframe, starting with the introductory shot of a busted open and blood-stained cryogenic pod set to howling screams in the background. With a cast including Civil War standout Cailee Spaeny and plot details pointing towards young adult colonists who scavenge the wrong derelict space station, there’s plenty more to be excited about. That said, nothing has me more excited for Alien: Romulus than the man in the director’s chair. If any contemporary filmmaker has the best chance of crushing an Alien movie, it’d be Fede Álvarez.
