[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Alien: Romulus (2024)

An impressive entry into the Alien universe. I was quite wary of this as i really disliked the last film Alien: Covenant and find the whole universe of Alien vs Predator somewhat hit or miss.

Thankfully this was a return to form despite one or two early fears i had with the film being headed by such a youthful cast, not so much the actors themselves but always with the niggle that they were too young to have the experience in their interplanetary field of work. However i soon got used to them even if that niggle remained throughout.

The Aliens were used wisely with only facehuggers on screen during the first hour and they were utilised brilliantly and became a genuine threat to the teenage salvage crew with some excellent sequences of suspense as the parasites ran riot in their hundreds.

The Xenomorphs when they did appear were a constant threat and it was great to see a film that finally decided Xenomorph blood dripping like acid and burning it's way through a space craft was actually a significant issue rather than simply forgotten about as in all the other films. The set piece in the zero gravity lift shaft was superbly executed and terrifically tense.

My other niggle with the film and it lost serious marks for this was it basically rehashed the end of Alien Resurrection with one woman alone against a human / Xenomorph hybrid. It let down the earlier film for me and this did here but on the whole i rather enjoyed Alien: Romulus