The universe’s most terrifying monster, ‘Alien: Romulus’, returns home: “Awakens the fears that nest within us”

The story told in ‘Alien: Romulus’ takes place approximately twenty years after the events depicted in ‘The Eighth Passenger.’ and about forty years before what James Cameron told in ‘Aliens: The Return’ (1986); its heroes are a group of young colonists who enter an abandoned space station in the hope of finding there the technology necessary to escape from the planet where they are used as slaves, without knowing that its interior contains a violent threat that we, the audience, are already familiar with. Álvarez said, “Many fans of the saga have doubts about whether they prefer their favorite film, the original or the one directed by Cameron, so I thought, why not make my own film by taking elements from both?”

Let’s remember, ‘The Eighth Passenger’ used a premise that is archetypal today. -an alien monster sneaks onto a spaceship to destroy the human crew- the perfect blend of science fiction and visceral horror, which slowly and steadily builds tension in its first episode to affect the audience in a more powerful, crazy and terrifying way; and seven years later, ‘Aliens’ revolutionized the standards of action cinema. ‘Romulus’ aims to create something of a trilogy with both films. “From the beginning, I studied them meticulously to capture their textures, colors and shapes, to reproduce the vision of the future they offered,” says Álvarez, who physically built every set that appeared in the film with his team, “with the almost complete disregard for digital imagery – “films that misuse this are visually unconvincing and therefore create distance in the viewer” -.

Similarly, he made formal or plot connections to these two prequels to provide narrative context or expand the mythology of the saga, but of course in no case for nostalgic purposes. “Many Hollywood sequels are so concerned with paying homage to the saga they are part of that they forget to make sense of the narrative on their own. And I think that’s a mistake. I want my movie to be able to please every viewer who hasn’t seen another ‘Alien’ movie.”

Youtube phenomenon

Álvarez became known thanks to his short film ‘Panic Attack!’It’s about a giant robot that attacks Montevideo almost by accident. One day in 2009, he uploaded the video to YouTube with the sole purpose of sharing it with his friends, and by the next morning it had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. Among those who saw it was the acclaimed director Sam Raimi, who soon offered Álvarez the film. Opportunity to direct a ‘remake’ of ‘Infernal Possession (Evil Dead)’ (2013); This first feature film was a triumph, but not as big as the one he achieved with the suffocating thriller ‘Don’t Breathe’ (2016), which confirmed the Uruguayan’s extraordinary talent in the field of horror films. “Because of the success I had at the time, people started asking me, ‘What do you want to do now?’ and the only thing I could think of was a new ‘Alien’ movie.”

‘Alien: Romulus’ uses already iconic creatures like ‘face-huggers’ and xenomorphs -yes, the famous monster with a skeletal body decorated with something resembling valves and a phallic head without eyes-, Álvarez confirms his ability to create dramatic tension and, while managing the narrative rhythms already evident in previous works, offers some thoughts on what it means to be human. “Among other things, I wanted to explore real emotional connections between people because that’s something that the previous films didn’t do. In order to provoke fear, we must never forget the human component. If a creature like the Alien is so frightening to us, it’s not just because of its appearance, but because the sight of it awakens atavistic fears that are nestled within us and are inherent in the human condition.”