20th Century Studios revitalizes the beloved, but inconsistent, Alien franchise with Alien: Romulus. Directed by in-demand horror story-teller Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe), the latest space horror film seeks to reintroduce the franchise to a new generation of audiences.
It’s almost hard to believe that the first Alien film released 45 years ago in 1979. Since then, the productive franchise has spawned 8 films (including Romulus), 2 Predator cross-over films, a couple of TV series and numerous books and comics. There’s no questioning the impact of Alien in pop culture. The last two prequel films, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, have been generally well received, but didn’t quite fire up the fan base.
With Alvarez, the franchise seeks to not only please long-time fans, but to provide an entry point for new audiences to embrace the series.
Senior Writer Jorgie Rodriguez recently had the chance to sit down with the acclaimed horror director to chat about his love of the genre, the responsibility that comes with playing in the Alien sandbox and more.
Alien: Romulus premieres August 16, 2024 in theaters.
Álvarez, who is accumulating an impressive list of horror films to his credits, spoke about how he enjoys watching the reaction from audiences as they go through the full experience.
“I just love the effect that it causes in the audience. My favorite part is to sit down with a crowd and play the movie for them and put them through the emotions that only horror can do,” Álvarez said. “I still find it fascinating that adults that know that everything that happened on screen is not real, and know for a fact that they’re all safe in the theater, nothing’s going to attack them, they still cover their face and yell and scream…it still blows my mind how horror makes everybody become a kid again.”
Its interesting to think about the ways horror, which isn’t really a child-friendly genre, actually allows adult viewers to tap into the child-like wonder of truly believing that what we see on screen can impact us in real life.
Given that the Alien franchise already has 11 feature films, with directors like Ridley Scott, James Cameron and David Fincher all having directed Alien films, Álvarez follows an impressive lineage. He talked about the double-edged sword that can come with joining a iconic franchise.
“It’s a great privilege, but at the same time, it’s a massive responsibility, right? Like, you gotta really honor those [past] filmmakers and you gotta really love [the franchise]. I think, if you don’t love it, you shouldn’t get involved with it, because you know, you might not do a good job,” Álvarez said. “I think when you truly love a franchise it’s harder to **** it up. Because you will really try, you do as many takes as it takes, you work as long hours as you want in the editing, you just want to get it right when you love it. So it was a massive honor but that comes with responsibility that I hope we delivered.”
About Alien: Romulus:
“Alien: Romulus” takes the phenomenally successful “Alien” franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. The film stars Cailee Spaeny (“Civil War”), David Jonsson (“Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“The Last of Us”), Spike Fearn (“Aftersun”), Aileen Wu. Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead,” “Don’t Breathe”) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (“Don’t Breathe 2”) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. “Alien: Romulus” is produced by Ridley Scott (“Napoleon”), who directed the original “Alien” and produced and directed the series’ entries “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” Michael Pruss (“Boston Strangler”), and Walter Hill (“Alien”), with Fede Alvarez, Elizabeth Cantillon (“Charlie’s Angels”), Brent O’Connor (“Bullet Train”), and Tom Moran (“Unstoppable”) serving as executive producers.
Ron is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of POC Culture. He is a big believer in the power and impact of pop culture and the importance of representation in media.
