20th Century Studios has released a 1-minute teaser trailer for Alien: Romulus, the seventh film in the 45-year-old Alien franchise. The trailer features soulful, atmospheric sci-fi imagery perfectly reminiscent of the original 1979 film directed by Ridley Scott and terrifying audio cues familiar to any fan of the franchise.
While harkening back to Ridley Scott’s original tone and visuals, the trailer also promises that the film will take the franchise in a new direction, with more frenetic action scenes than were possible 40 years ago. The horrifying “facehugger” creatures are briefly shown leaping around like jumping spiders and overtaking their prey mere moments after detection.
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While the trailer mostly features female characters, audiences may have some cause to hope that the actual film may avoid the masculinized girl-boss epidemic currently running its course through mainstream entertainment. Previous screenplays by writer-director Fede Alvarez, such as Evil Dead (2013), involve female characters with genuine pathos who experience real struggle. The films of producer Ridley Scott also tend to feature believable and sympathetic female characters.
Part of the magic of the original 1979 movie was its masterful use of the filmmaking principle that nothing you show on screen can be as terrifying as what the audience imagines. In the original film, the alien is barely seen, only appearing in shadows or brief closeups. It’s more terrifying that way. Due to advances in film technology, filmgoers know what the alien looks like now, but the teaser for Alien: Romulus indicates that the new film may make use of the old technique but in a different way, forcing the audience to imagine the characters fighting for their lives somewhere off camera. We can’t see them, but we can hear them screaming.
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Fans of the franchise have greeted the trailer enthusiastically, with some claiming that the film appears to be a return to form for the franchise after a series of poorly-received sequels from Ridley Scott. The original director returned to create sequels Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017) which disappointed some fans due to the fact that the original director appeared to be more interested in telling stories about robots rather than aliens. Scott dropped out of the Alien franchise in 2020 to create two seasons of the mythologically dense robot drama Raised by Wolves.
As a teaser, the trailer is heavy on visuals and pulse-pounding action while sparse on plot specifics. Fans will have to wait for a regular trailer before getting really excited.
Alien: Romulus was originally scheduled for release on the Hulu streaming service but was later switched to a theatrical release.
Alien: Romulus is scheduled for release on August 16, 2024, and stars a young cast of Isabela Merced (Sicario: Day of the Soldado), Cailee Spaeny (Bad Times at the El Royale), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), David Johnsson (Murder is Easy), Spike Fearn (Tell me Everything), and newcomer Aileen Wu.
What do you think of the teaser trailer for Alien: Romulus? Can Ridley Scott make this franchise great again? Let us know in the comments below!
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