Parents' Guide to Alien: Romulus

After a couple of science fictiony entries full of big ideas, the Alien franchise returns to pure horror with this ruthlessly gripping, brutally intense, refreshingly simple movie. Directed by Fede Álvarez, who successfully rebooted the Evil Dead franchise and whose Don't Breathe was a clever use of limited space, Alien: Romulus takes things back to basics. There are no scientists or philosophers here, no trained space explorers or soldiers, just regular folks who are trying to get out of a bad situation. Álvarez gets things moving well before the aliens appear with an impressive use of visual effects that gives viewers the most visceral vision of the perils of outer space since Gravity.

The movie also spends time on Rain and Andy, exploring their unusual but loving relationship; when Andy is installed with a new chip to give him access to the special alien room, he changes, and Rain looks at him with suspicion ("Andy, are you there?"). The themes of the original films (Alien and Aliens) come back into play here, with an evil corporation that's interested only in finding ways to exploit the aliens and their power for profit (no matter the cost in human life), but the real focus here is on survival. The sharp screenplay uses the familiar elements (the "face-hugger," the "chest-burster") but keeps them fresh. It keeps upping the ante, with bigger and bigger shocks and challenges as the clock runs down. Alien: Romulus easily ranks with the best of this series.