Alien: Romulusthe latest movie in the icon Stranger franchise, will soon hit theaters thanks to director Fede Álvarez (The evil dead, Don’t breathe).
Now, in an interview with Total movie (Thanks, VGC), Álvarez points out an interesting connection to Creative Assembly’s outstanding survival horror game, Alien: Isolation. According to Álvarez, he paid homage to the game by strategically placing the phone within the film to indicate that a terrifying moment could be just around the corner.
This refers to the emergency phone save points in Alien: Isolation, which Álvarez said would always make him nervous, as he attributed their placement to the increased likelihood of a scary moment in the game.
Here’s what Álvarez had to say:
“The film is set up in a way [that] every time something bad is about to happen, you will see the phone. In the game, every time he knew there was a phone he’d be like, ‘Damn, I’m about to get into some bad setup.’ It’s the same thing here. You will see that they are strategically placed throughout the film. When you see the phone, it’s like: prepare to be hit.”
He also credited Alien: Isolation with making him realize that it was still possible to make the Xenomorph truly scary in this day and age:
“Alien: Isolation kind of made me see that Alien can really be scary and well done [today]. I played for a few years after it came out. Don’t Breathe was coming out. Or I was waiting for Don’t Breathe to come out and I was playing the game. So at the time I said, ‘Fuck, if I could do anything, I’d love to do Alien and scare audiences again with that creature and that environment.’ I played around and realized how scary Alien could be if you took it back to that tone.”
Official reviews for Alien: Romulus have yet to be released at the time of writing, but early impressions via social media have been positive so far. The movie starts August 16, 2024.
