Alien: Romulus Review
Let me get one thing out of the way: this has one of the best jump scares I've seen put on film. Seriously, the only other one that comes to mind might be the scene during the final act in Coraline, and that one was an animated film. As for the rest it was not bad. Which is saying something since the last movie I saw from the director was 2013's Evil Dead, which could've been worse but was dethroned by Evil Dead Rise. But I think what best works about this movie is the rare timing it had to premiere this year. Although this is sidetracking I also saw another Alien movie released this year called Otaking77077's "Alien: Monday", which I found sublime. While Romulus is highly disimilar from the latter, it's still equally as good as its own thing. This considering how it as much updates the horror, be it figuratively, allegorically, concretely and viserally for sure, as it returns to a nostalgic vibe that reminds you the first Alien was once in the partenon of films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars if not Star Trek. You even get a Blade Runner meets Interstellar vibe in some scenes Once you're immersed in the architecture and HR Giger faithful set design, and like I said: the climax practically brimmed with that 80s body horror/surrealism that would lead to a pretty effective jumpscare. Of course my only critique may be that, unlike Otaking77077's take, Romulus doesn't quite embrace the Xenomorph's original design, not that I blame them given how campy it feels nowadays (despite the facehuggers being updated to spidervelociraptors in a way). Other than that this was nonetheless an earnest, and even inspired, entry that was worth a look.