Alien Romulus, Mark Kermode’s scifi movie review.

Just when you thought the Xenomorphs had retired to a peaceful life of terrorising your nightmares, Alien: Romulus crashes into cinemas to remind us all why we should never, ever trust a space station named after a legendary fratricidal twin. Directed by Fede Álvarez, the latest installment in the beloved Alien franchise doesn’t disappoint—unless you were hoping for a peaceful resolution. Spoiler: there isn’t one.

This time, the plot is so dense with doom that you might need a Weyland-Yutani manual to navigate it. Set between the original Alien and its action-packed sequel Aliens, Romulus dives into the story of Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), an orphaned miner with a past more tragic than a space station full of Xenomorph eggs. When Weyland-Yutani extends her contract (because why not enslave people while unleashing alien horrors?), Rain, her reprogrammed android brother Andy, and a group of soon-to-be-regretting-their-life-choices friends head off to salvage a derelict spacecraft. Cue the ominous music.

Of course, this is the Alien universe, so things go south faster than you can say “acid blood.” Our intrepid crew accidentally wakes up some frozen facehuggers—because who needs an alarm clock when you’ve got alien parasites ready to hug your face right off? And as if that wasn’t enough to ruin their day, the station’s resident android Rook (voiced by Daniel Betts, with the eerie likeness of the late Ian Holm) decides that now is the perfect time to start plotting for Weyland-Yutani. Because what’s an Alien movie without a robot betraying everyone for corporate interests?

As the crew attempts to escape, they discover that Navarro, Bjorn’s girlfriend, has become the latest incubator for a chestburster—a charming little creature that immediately lives up to its name by exploding from her chest. In true Alien fashion, things only get worse from there: Tyler, Rain’s ex-boyfriend, dies a messy death; Kay, Tyler’s sister, injects herself with some questionable Xenomorph-derived goo; and Andy, the android who just wanted to be a good brother, ends up nearly dismantled.

But the pièce de résistance? Kay gives birth to a human–Xenomorph hybrid. Yes, because after 45 years of the franchise, we needed something even more terrifying than a regular Xenomorph. Played by a former basketball player (who, fun fact, stands at over 7 feet tall), the hybrid proceeds to do what hybrids do best: kill its mother and terrorize the remaining survivors. Rain, proving that desperation is the mother of ingenuity, manages to eject the creature into the planetary rings, saving herself and what’s left of Andy.

If you’re looking for a feel-good ending, you’re definitely in the wrong franchise. Rain records a log, puts herself and Andy into stasis, and leaves us all wondering just how bad things are going to get on the planet Yvaga when they eventually wake up. But hey, at least they didn’t end up as alien chow—or worse, stuck with another Weyland-Yutani contract.

Alien: Romulus delivers all the gory thrills and existential dread you’ve come to expect from the Alien series, with a few new twists to keep things fresh—because nothing says “fresh” like a rapidly mutating human-alien hybrid. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or just in the mood for some good old-fashioned sci-fi horror, Romulus is here to remind you that in space, no one can hear you scream—especially if your space station is crashing into a planet.