Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Alien: Romulus
Alien: Romulus is the latest chapter in Fox's beloved Alien franchise, featuring a collection of incredibly scary moments with one of cinema's most terrifying alien specimens. Set between the first and second Alien movies, Fede Álvarez's Romulus was very well received, possessing a strong blend of nostalgia while also exploring some new ideas in the Alien universe. It also generates some very satisfying moments of pure terror and suspense.
In Alien: Romulus, a crew of young disenfranchised miners are tired of endlessly working for the Weyland-Yutani corporation. This motivates them to raid a derelict research station in orbit for its cryogenic pods which will allow them to travel to a brand-new colony world. However, they come to realize all too late that the station was attacked by a recovered XX121 Xenomorph which quickly grew into an entire horde of the classic sci-fi monsters. To that end, here are the top 10 scariest moments in Alien: Romulus, ranked from least to most terrifying.
10 Rook's Reactivation
(Both Times)
In the first act of Alien: Romulus, the remains of a synth known as Rook are found and he's eventually reactivated. This allows the miners to learn the truth about what happened to the space station and its crew, and how to save Navarro (Aileen Wu) who was implanted by a facehugger (one of the early stages of the xenomorph's growth cycle). Resembling Ian Holm's Ash from the first Alien, both of Rook's activations are solid jump scares, some of the first in the new Alien movie.
9 Rain Caught Between Xenomorph and Facehugger
A Rare Moment in the Alien Franchise
Near the end of Alien: Romulus when Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Andy (David Jonnson) are working their way up the elevator before the gravity kicks back in, Rain finds herself in a rare and absolutely horrifying situation. After falling back down the shaft and being caught by a pursuing xenomorph, Rain gets trapped between this fully grown xeromorph and a facehugger that begins crawling toward her. In past Alien movies, facehuggers are rarely featured at the end of the movie as the threat usually moves onto the fully grown xenomorphs. As such, it's equally exciting and horrifying to see both creatures at the same time.
8 The Xenomorph Nest
Building Up To Tyler's Death
On the bottom floor of the research station, Rain and Andy lose Tyler (Archie Renaux) after rescuing Kay (Isabela Merced) from the xenomorphs who'd taken her back to their nest. To that end, the nest is full of corpses from the station's crew who'd been taken and used to grow the creatures' numbers. To that end, Romulus shows just how many xenomorphs were onboard the station after Tyler gets stabbed and pulled up to the ceiling, getting to see the incoming horde of aliens right before he dies.
7 The Facehuggers Waking Up From Cryo-Sleep
Swarming From The Water
The miners' first contact with the aliens is incredibly scary. Attempting to grab fuel for the cryo-pods, the rising temperatures result in several cryogenically frozen facehuggers waking up and dropping into the water below. Swimming and striking at the miners before eventually swarming, it's terrifying to see just how fast the facehuggers can truly move, especially thanks to more modern effects compared to past Alien movies.
6 The Hallway of Facehuggers
An Extremely Stressful and Scary Situation
After Bjorn (Spike Fearn) takes an implanted Navarro back onto the ship (which then crashes into the station's hanger), Andy, Tyler, and Rain are trying to get to Kay before she's taken by the Xenomorph who ends up killing both Navarro and Bjorn. As such, they're forced to travel through a hallway full of several facehuggers. Having matched the hallway's temperature to their own core body temps to give them a fighting chance, the pure stress of the moment and Kay being in danger inevitably rises said body temps, exposing them to the spider-like creatures which they just barely survive.
5 Xenomorph Cocoon
Bjorn Killed With Acid Blood
On board the miners' ship known as The Corbelan, Bjorn comes face-to-face with a cocoon that's apparently created between the chest-burster stage and the full-grown xenomorph stage of the life cycle. Attacking the cocoon with the stun baton, Bjorn gets stabbed by the newly birthed xenon before the alien's acid blood melts his fingers and parts of his face. It's a truly grisly and tragic death, one that proves just how dangerous a xenomorph can be even after it's been wounded (the alien's "swan song" as Rook calls it).
4 Navarro Using The X-Ray Device
Revealing The Chestburster Inside Her
Just before Bjorn's death was Navarro's murder which is arguably even worse and far more gruesome. While it's also an incredibly iconic demise seen throughout the Alien franchise, this one features an even darker twist. Having found a handheld x-ray device on board the station, Navarro uses it to scan her body. This horrifically allows herself and viewers to actively see the chest-burster breaking her ribs and bursting out of her chest from inside her own body. While chest-burster deaths are incredibly common in the Alien franchise, this one is quite notable thanks to this x-ray device, making it all the more terrifying and gruesome.
3 The Offspring Egg
A Disturbing Human-Xeno Hybrid
Having used the "Promethean Fire" serum known as Z-01 to heal her wounds, the substance derived from xenomorphs' biology results in the previously pregnant Kay's rapid birth. However, Kay's child has been horribly mutated due to the serum, resulting in an extremely disturbing half-human half-xenomorph hybrid that's been referred to as "The Offspring" in Alien: Romulus. As such, Kay gives birth to an egg which opens to reveal what looks to be a baby's face. However, the accelerated growth has only just begun in the movie's final act.
2 First Look At The Adult Offspring
Extremely Unsettling
Mere moments following its birth, The Offspring rapidly grows into its fully adult form at the end of Alien: Romulus, possessing just as many disfigured human features as it does a xenomorph's. Likewise, the moment when Andy turns around to see this disturbing hybrid for the first time is one that viewers won't soon forget. Looking right back at Andy in silence down the corridor, the Offspring starts rapidly crawling to get to Kay, its "mother". While the idea of a human/xenomorph hybrid has been explored before in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus takes the idea to a whole new level.
1 The Offspring's Final Scene
Alien: Romulus' Final (And Best) Jump Scare
Last but not least, the very final shot of The Offspring serves to be one of the scariest moments in Alien: Romulus. Having opened up the bottom of The Corbelan to the cold vacuum of space, the final act makes it seem as though Rain successfully rid herself of the horrifying hybrid, having put on a space suit and tethered herself to the ship. Triumphant music even starts to play, only to be sharply cut off by the major jump scare that is The Offspring's sudden and terrifying return.
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Attempting to break Rain's helmet open with its second, xenomorph-styled mouth, the Offspring manages to crack the visor before it ultimately loses its grip and gets disintegrated by LV-410's rings. While Rain survives and sets the ship to travel to the new colony world or Yvaga, this final jump scare shot featuring The Offspring is easily one of the scariest moments in the entire movie.
Alien: Romulus is now available on digital.
Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.
Director Fede Alvarez
Release Date August 16, 2024
Studio(s) Scott Free Productions , 20th Century
Distributor(s) 20th Century
Writers Fede Alvarez , Rodo Sayagues , Dan O'Bannon , Ronald Shusett
Runtime 119 Minutes
English (US) ·