Summertime is usually a season where a cool dip in the water is a soothing affair, but after watching this new “Alien: Romulus” final launch trailer that just arrived from 20th Century Studios you might want to rethink sticking your toes into any sort of opaque liquid substance!
After last week’s “Alien: Romulus” IMAX teaser, a disturbing two-minute preview has hatched and we can honestly attest to the fact that it’s the finest trailer yet, packed with never-seen footage, longer set pieces, submerged sequences of terror, and a hard-to-watch chest-burster eruption that is absolutely not for the faint-of-heart or anyone who’s just eaten an extremely large lunch. (If you need to catch up on the Alien universe, check out our streaming guide for the Alien movies.)
Check out the full synopsis:
“‘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”), and 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.”
Here in this unsettling footage we get a much more detailed peek at the creepy interiors of the abandoned Romulus Space Station that’s obviously become a fertile nesting ground for those nasty biomechanical creatures of the “Alien” universe and the lifecycle’s spider-like, impregnating spawn called the Facehuggers.
There’s also a far greater emphasis on showcasing Mexican cinematographer Galo Olivares’ (“Gretel & Hansel”) impressive shot framing to highlight the gorgeous visuals that seem to beautifully align with the vision of “Alien’s” original director of photography Derek Vanlint. Deep shadows and reflective metallic surfaces are punctuated by random illuminations of saturated color to intensify the atmospheric effect.
One intriguing reveal is the inclusion of a cutaway to a computer interface that clearly shows a readout highlighting the name MU/TH/UR 9000. Avid fans of the franchise will recall that the Nostromo’s 2.1 terabyte AI mainframe computer in “Alien” that hid information regarding Special Order 937 and the LV-426 planetoid detour to snag an organism specimen from the crew was nicknamed “Mother.” Its official designation in that first movie was MU/TH/UR 6000.
Since “Alien: Romulus” takes place in that 57-year abyss between 1979’s “Alien” and 1986’s “Aliens,” the appearance of the MU/TH/UR 9000 is an obvious way to denote the passage of time by showing the updated model. That exact type of narrative detail is what’s going to please the most hardcore of xenomorph acolytes!
“Alien: Romulus” scuttles into theaters on Aug. 16.
If you’re looking for more “Alien” movie madness, check out our view of the Alien movies ranked worst to best and guide on how to watch the Alien movies in order.
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