10 Recent Horror Movies That Had No Right To Be This Good
6. Alien: Romulus
Well, it finally happened. At long, long last, we got a good Alien movie again. It only took almost 40 years but, as they say, better late than never.
No one could be blamed for having low expectations, given the low standard this franchise has plumbed ever since the brilliance of its first two movies. Alien 3 was OK but suffered from an excessively cruel tone and poorly-judged narrative decisions, Alien: Resurrection was downright atrocious, and Ridley Scott's two prequel films in the 2010s were potential-wasting blunders. That's not even mentioning those ghastly Alien Vs. Predator films.
Still, Alien: Romulus finally brought some life back to this series. Sure, it was too fan-servicey at times, but it was a really solid flick on the whole, one that wiped the floor with all the sequels mentioned above. Taking a well-judged back-to-basics approach, Romulus took a group of sympathetic, well-played characters - including Cailee Spaeny's lead Rain Carradine, who's the only Alien protagonist to come close to Ellen Ripley - and placed them in the middle of a claustrophobic, ferociously frightening deep-space horror that was splendidly directed by horror maestro Fede Alverez.
Put it this way: this was the first occasion in a long, long time where the Xenomorphs were actually scary again, and you love to see it. As it turns out, there's life in this franchise yet.