5 terrifying details you may have missed in the gruesome Alien: Romulus trailer-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

The trailer for Alien: Romulus has dropped, filled with all sorts of fear, panic, horror and – of course – Xenomorphs, harking back to the glory days of Sir Ridley Scott’s sci-fi franchise.

As well as similar its tone and its place in the classic movie series though, Alien: Romulus is clearly signalling a return to the body horror and thrills of 1979’s Alien, starring Sigourney Weaver, in more ways than one.

As the seventh instalment in the franchise, Romulus actually takes place chronologically right between the events of Alien and sequel Aliens – both of which are set in the future – and follows a group of young space colonists who, while scavenging a derelict space station, come face to face with the most terrifying life form in space.

No prizes for what that might be…

The film, directed by Evil Dead’s Fede Álvarez, stars a brand new cast of rising stars, signalling a fresh take on the franchise after the two-film prequel storyline focused on android David (Michael Fassbender) in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

But what were the terrifying and gruesome details and Alien Easter Eggs you could have missed? Let’s take a look.      

The Xenomorph is back in every form

One of cinema’s most iconic monsters is back, in all of its glory, for Alien: Romulus (Picture: 20th Century Studios via AP)

The Alien: Romulus trailer focuses a lot on the building fear of its characters as they start to find out what they’ve stumbled upon at the space station.

These are Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny as Rain Carradine, Industry and Rye Lane’s David Jonsson as Andy, Kay as played by Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn’s Bjorn, Aileen Wu as Navarro and Archie Renaux – known for Netflix series Shadow and Bone – as Tyler.

We are also treated to all of the famous stages of the titular ‘Alien’ too, with Facehuggers, Chestbursters and the final iconic form of the Xenomorph all terrorising the humans.

The film’s poster goes hard on the Facehugger iteration (Picture: 20th Century Studios)

One particularly gruesome detail is the realisation that the banging and crunching that soundtracks the beginning of the trailer is soon revealed to be the noise made by a Chestburster trying to do just that.

More horrifyingly though, we even see it lit up from within the ribcage of its human host. Shudder.

There’s also a pretty graphically probing attack from a Facehugger, before the final reveal of the towering Xenomorph.

Alien’s iconic tagline returns

What is it they say about screaming in space? Well, Alien first told us in 1979 (Picture: 20th Century Studios via AP)

It’s become so famous and so often quoted that it’s easy to forget that it was the tagline for Aliens back in 1979.

This is, of course, the classic: ‘In space no one can hear you scream.’

As both a very simple but upsettingly true fact, those words have haunted film fans over the past 45 years.

So it was a delight to see the trailer, as well as leaning firmly into the body horror origins of Alien, also cheekily reusing the tagline.

However, it was flashed up on the screen between jump cuts, reading as, ‘In space no one can hear you,’ before inserting a montage of silent, horrified screams with the sound cut.

This gives it a clever, accurate double meaning as well, whether you clock the visual connection to the word ‘scream’ or not.

The final shot screams Ellen Ripley

Our female protagonist is terrorised, just like Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley (Picture: 20th Century Fox)

It feels like the full Alien: Romulus trailer is leading up to this moment and the nostalgia (petrified, of course) it provokes.

As the film’s title is slowly revealed during the final few seconds, it climaxes with a quick shot showing the Xenomorph advancing on Spaeny’s Rain, with its jaw wide open and its grotesque second ‘inside’ mouth extended.

This is just like Sigourney Weaver’s encounter as Ellen Ripley with the Alien in 1992’s Alien 3, where Ripley holds her eyes closed in horror as the drooling Xenomorph coming towards her, before opening its mouth wide.

Of course, the fact that we’re returning to another strong female protagonist is another welcome throwback to the initial Alien films too.

An Easter Egg Alien ‘anniversary’

Film fans might not have known what was about to happen in 1979 when they first watched Alien, but we all do now (Picture: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)

This Easter Egg could just be a startling coincidence, or it could be a fun nod for the die-hard fans.

Alien: Romulus’s trailer was released on June 4, 2024, which actually marks the anniversary of a very significant date within the franchise’s universe.

In Alien, the mission’s first day is seen on a computer screen logged as June 3, 2122.

The next day is the date on which the Chest-Burster memorably burrows its way out of executive officer Gilbert Ward Kane (John Hurt)’s torso, which is exactly 98 years later, kicking off their odyssey of terror.

So… happy birthday, Xenomorph?

The return of a synthetic

Alien: Romulus features a synthetic again, this time David Jonsson’s Andy (Picture: 20th Century Studios via AP)

Just like David was an android – or synthetic – in the Alien prequel films, Ash (Ian Holm) was the synthetic in Alien, while Lance Henriksen played synthetic Bishop in Aliens and Alien 3.

As the stories of their respective films show, the synthetics can prove either loyal to their comrades or to the Weyland-Yutani corporation, becoming (more often than not) somewhat of a villain.

Alien: Romulus’s synthetic is Andy (Jonsson), but it appears that his relationship with the crew will be very different – having grown up with Rain.

Michael Fassbender was synthetic David in the Alien prequel films Prometheus and Alien: Covenant (Picture: 20th Century Fox)

We see glimpses of their bond in the trailer and Spaeny told Entertainment Weekly: ‘She loves him like her brother, but there are difficulties growing up with a synthetic, and some of the challenges that she faces during the film are related.

‘That relationship dynamic is really interesting to flip on its head; it was really fun to explore having a synthetic as a family member and the questions it poses.’

Of course, how the film’s title comes into play will also be interesting here, given that Romulus was the founder of Rome – famous for having killed his brother Remus along the way.

Alien: Romulus is released in cinemas on August 16.

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