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This article was originally published on August 15, 2024.
We are recirculating it timed to Alien: Romuluss streaming debut on Hulu and Disney+.
Spoilers ahead for the plot and ending of the film.
Giger-designed monsters described by Ash (Ian Holm) in the originalAlienas the perfect organism.
Two mouths, one very long head, and a seemingly endless amount of slime.
But devotees of the franchise know that theres actually quite a bit of variety when it comes to aliens.
What emerges briefly looks like a human baby before growingwaytoo quickly into a towering hybrid.
Dubbed the Newborn, this pitiful creature looks like a Xenomorph with a human skull for a face.
Its not just the hybrid itself that makesRomulus last act so recognizable to fans.
Theres a pattern to mostAlienendings, and this film knows it well.
(The alien getting sucked out of an airlock into space is also generally how these things go.)
(Some of us are still struggling to pull ourselves out of aDeadpool & Wolverine-induced depression.)
But theres something more interesting than Easter eggs at play inRomulus.
The movies approach to hybridization very literally blends the mythology ofPrometheuswith the mutant freak show ofResurrection.
Not to mention, of course, squelchy body horror.
Thats not to say that whatRomulusis doing will work for everyone.
To its credit, the sheer entertainment value ofRomulusis enough to paper over most of its weaknesses.
