A new trailer for for Alien: Romulus will be released tomorrow and, in the meantime, we have a nightmare-inducting poster putting a Facehugger front and centre.
It's a fantastic piece of imagery and one which suggests horror director Fede Álvarez intends to embrace the sci-fi franchise's horror roots. However, as much as he's been inspired by Alien, the filmmaker is also taking his cues from Aliens.
"To ask an Alien fan to choose between them is a perverse question," he tells Empire Online. "So I thought, 'How do I do both?'"
"There’s a moment where the characters are walking around areas familiar from the Nostromo," says Álvarez. "Then they cross through that building and on the other side: boom! You’re in a hallway that looks like Hadley’s Hope [from Aliens]."
Back in April, it was confirmed that Alien: Romulus will be R-Rated. That's the same rating as every other instalment in the long-running sci-fi/horror franchise...well, aside from one poorly received effort.
2013's Alien vs. Predator was rated PG-13, though its sequel, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, ultimately went down the R-Rated route (and it still sucked despite the potential that "vs." premise has).
Given Alvarez's aforementioned history with horror - including Evil Dead and Don't Breathe - it makes sense that he likely has a terrifying gore-fest in store for us.
The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
The film stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), David Jonsson (Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (The Last of Us), Spike Fearn (Aftersun), Aileen Wu. Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe 2) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.
Alien: Romulus is produced by Ridley Scott (Napoleon), who directed the original Alien and produced and directed the series’ entries Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Michael Pruss (Boston Strangler), and Walter Hill (Alien), with Fede Alvarez, Elizabeth Cantillon (Charlie’s Angels), Brent O’Connor (Bullet Train), and Tom Moran (Unstoppable) serving as executive producers.
The movie is set to arrive in theaters on August 16. Check out this haunting new poster below.