Director Fede Alvarez’s upcoming contribution to the Alien franchise, the feature film Alien: Romulus, is on track for an August 16th theatrical release – and according to World of Reel, a test screening was just held in California a few days ago. The site reports that test screening audience members have revealed plot details (which line up with a synopsis that recently showed up online), the reason for the Romulus subtitle, and a new design element for the iconic Facehuggers that make them more dangerous than ever before!

Here’s the synopsis, as shared by Perfect Organism: A group of scavengers depart their home planet for an abandoned spaceship, aiming to steal equipment. Unleashing baby Xenos and the fearsome Xenomorph in a gory battle. More chest rips and stunning visuals, staying true to the franchise’s essence with some twists.

World of Reel’s sources confirm that the story crafted by Alvarez and his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues takes place at a Weyland-Yutani research station that has been abandoned for hundreds of years. The name of this research station: Romulus. The station will be investigated by a crew of six scavengers, of which Rain (Cailee Spaeny) is the lead. Andy (David Jonsson) is Rain’s android brother. The other four scavengers are composed the tropes that we usually connect with the Alien franchise, except they are much younger than in previous films. The early reactions also imply that the Facehuggers in Alien: Romulus have spiked barbs on their fingers — making the act of face-hugging way more graphic and gruesome. There is some very graphic violence in the film.

As mentioned, the film’s cast includes Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) and David Jonsson (Industry), as well as Isabela Merced (Madame Web), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), and Aileen Wu (Away from Home). Spaeny has previously revealed that the story takes place between the events of the original Alien and its follow-up Aliens. Merced has said there’s a scene in the film that’s so disgusting, a lot of viewers will have to look away, so that goes along with the “graphic and gruesome” description. “Graphic and gruesome” is what we expected from this movie as soon as it was announced that it was being made by the director of Evil Dead 2013 and Don’t Breathe.

When the project was announced near the start of 2022, it was said that Alvarez pitched this idea to Ridley Scott years ago. Whatever the idea was, it stuck with Scott. So in late 2021, he called Alvarez and asked if he still wanted to make an Alien movie. Clearly, the answer was yes. 20th Century Studios division president Steve Asbell told The Hollywood Reporter that they picked up the project “purely off the strength of Fede’s pitch. It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.“

It has been said that the story Alvarez and Sayagues crafted for this movie is not connected to the other films in the Alien franchise. An early description said it will show us what happens when “a group of young people on a distant world find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.” The Hollywood Reporter noted, “as opposed to the other movies which focused on adults in corporate, militaristic and scientific roles, this now-ninth installment of the franchise will focus on a group of young people. On a distant colony, the group finds themselves in a fight for their lives with the titular alien, a creature known as a Xenomorph, whose race propagates by implanting eggs into people’s stomachs via face-huggers, with the juveniles eventually violently bursting out of the host’s chest.”

This new Alien movie is coming to us from Momentum and 20th Century Studios, with Ridley Scott producing through his Scott Free banner. 

Are you looking forward to Alien: Romulus? What do you think of the talk of scavengers and Facehuggers that has come out of the test screening? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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