Reviews
[REVIEW] ‘Alien: Romulus’ Engineers an Almost Perfect Sequel– But Loses Some of Itself to the Power of the Franchise
Alien: Romulus hints at being the perfect bridge between Alien and Aliens in its first half, which is appropriate since it’s supposed to take place between them as a sort of side story. It follows a group of colonists, trying to escape their dead lives on a pitch-black planet by stealing technology from a derelict space station in orbit known as the Renaissance. Needless to say, it turns into a nightmare scenario, and there aren’t any colonial marines or space mercenaries here to step in and start shooting. This is that classic Alien horror where the search for a way out is much more important than the hunt for a weapon to beat the monster.

Cards on the table, Alien: Romulus is really good. Great even. It’s a fun and fresh remixing of the series’ core elements, reviving the classic “haunted house in space” vibes that have been somewhat deadened by years of sequels full of lore. Lore that peeled the mystique of the Xenomorph away, and I’d go so far as to say Romulus brings some of that mysterious energy back, even for repeat customers of the series. For its quality, it lands high in my personal rankings, right below Alien 3 and right above Aliens (with Alien obviously in first place).
I liked it a lot.
But I say this knowing that Alien: Romulus, respectfully, ends up performing an amalgam of the Alien franchise’s greatest hits towards its end. I’m left wondering: “Do I really love Alien: Romulus, or is it just the parts of Alien that it’s managed to replicate that I like? Do I love the memories? And is it wrong if it’s the latter?”
Alien: Romulus hints at being the perfect bridge between Alien and Aliens in its first half, which is appropriate since it’s supposed to take place between them as a sort of side story. It follows a group of colonists, trying to escape their dead lives on a pitch-black planet by stealing technology from a derelict space station in orbit known as the Renaissance. Needless to say, it turns into a nightmare scenario, and there aren’t any colonial marines or space mercenaries here to step in and start shooting. This is that classic Alien horror where the search for a way out is much more important than the hunt for a weapon to beat the monster.
But this kind of flawless middle-point energy starts to fall apart when the vibes it sets up are supplanted by story beats and callbacks to the events of almost every other Alien film laced throughout the final act of the movie. The power of the franchise and its iconic scenes being referenced subsumes the back half of the film and makes it weaker than the first half. Which is an odd feeling because the first half is, genuinely, the closest we get to a true horror masterpiece like the original Alien. The tone is uncannily strong in its resemblance to the original films, while still managing to be something completely new.
Writer-director Fede Alvarez’s venture into the world Ridley Scott dragged into existence kicking and screaming with slippery body horror and psychosexual H.R. Giger designs shows us one thing above all else: this man has a comprehensive, front-to-back, undeniable understanding of Alien. There’s a comprehension of the cyclical and back-breaking themes of worker oppression, and the violation of personhood that permeates the series. It shows a deep grasp, not just for the franchise but for its greater meaning and the greater horror it presents of having your autonomy stolen from you. And it’s all presented in the most gorgeous package imaginable.
Romulus is on par with Aliens in terms of its technical innovations behind the scenes and packing the visual punch Cameron did with effects; it’s the best-looking film we’ve gotten since the original, with the environs of planetary orbit and the Renaissance being a perfect blend of brutalism and chunky analog tech that a lot of the other movies have left behind. It’s aesthetically bleak, even with the devastatingly beautiful views of space we get to glimpse, and both halves of the station have no comfort to offer its residents other than the knowledge of imminent chaos through its constant malfunctions.
This doesn’t mean Alvarez doesn’t have any fun with the material. He tosses in a few frantic, Sam Raimi homages into the mix, with the one I fell in love with being a scene I can only describe as “a perfectly executed Evil Dead sequence in space”. The effects that fill these ambitious scenes are full of perfectly blended CGI and practical SFX that ought to win Romulus an Oscar (if the Academy ever does the right thing and molts its dry, nasty, anti-horror cocoon it’s cooking in). If you haven’t learned how to fear face huggers all over again by the time this movie is over, I don’t know, you might need to check your pulse.
And the ragtag crew of workers we’re given to experience the horror through is the perfect array of victims and heroes. Cailee Spaeny and Archie Renaux are great leads in this, pulling off a lot of very emotional moments and making some harrowing scenes so much scarier with their genuinely soul-crushing reactions. Spaeny’s tortured laborer turned even more tortured heroine, Rain, is a great successor in the Ellen Ripley badass dynasty. For me, she’s right up there with Lex from Alien vs Predator when it comes to loving her on-screen presence. And who would have expected Isabela Merced to be such a natural when it comes to navigating the scream queen terrain? My only complaint is Aileen Wu’s steady and steely pilot Navarro, the character that left me wanting more; not because she underperformed, but because she was so cool that I just wanted to straight up see more of her.
But if you’ve seen this film, you know there’s one actor who steals the show, and that is David Jonsson as Andy. When I say he has one of the best performances of the year locked in here, that he is one of my favorite characters in the entire series right up there next to Ripley and David, I mean it with my whole chest. Jonsson is sensational, he’s charismatic, he’s unbelievably skilled, and he has rendered some of the best physical acting I’ve seen on screen in a long time, not just in a horror movie, but bar none. If you see this movie for anything, let it be David Jonsson.
And while I can complain and say the film ends up playing the hits by its end, it’s not like it doesn’t do that well. I can prefer a less drawn-out ending, and less references to the newer films. I can wish they had pulled back with some of their line drops. And I can wish that they kept evoking that perfect feeling of the original film. But it certainly doesn’t make the great entry we have here irredeemable, and it’s certainly not going to stop me from watching it again (in true IMAX, if I can get to one). Alien: Romulus is a wonderful new addition to Alien’s canon, recognizing where it came from and hopefully marking the quality the series is returning to.
Reviews
[REVIEW] ‘The Dead Thing’ Takes Ghosting To A Whole New Level
The Dead Thing follows Alex (Blu Hunt), a young woman who works late hours, lives by the rays of a sunlamp, and is looking for the one connection that will make life seem less cyclical. When Alex meets Kyle (Ben Smith-Peterson), it seems like things will finally be going in her favor. But all that glitters is not gold. As quickly as he came, he vanished. Hurt, confused, and pissed, Alex tries to get to the bottom of why Kyle disappeared from her life. Some stones are meant to be left unturned.

Elric Kane has been a prominent voice in the film and horror space for a long time. One of my fondest memories of Kane is his longtime hosting gig on the Shock Waves Podcast. The amount of film knowledge and obscure films I learned about from him and Dr. Rebekah McKendry singlehandedly fueled my interest in collecting physical media. Hearing how passionate and intense they were with their love of the genre is also what started me down the path of writing. While Dr. McKendry has previously dipped her toes in the feature filmmaking game, it’s now time for Elric Kane to do so.
Cut to: The Dead Thing.
The Dead Thing follows Alex (Blu Hunt), a young woman who works late hours, lives by the rays of a sunlamp, and is looking for the one connection that will make life seem less cyclical. When Alex meets Kyle (Ben Smith-Peterson), it seems like things will finally be going in her favor. But all that glitters is not gold. As quickly as he came, he vanished. Hurt, confused, and pissed, Alex tries to get to the bottom of why Kyle disappeared from her life. Some stones are meant to be left unturned.
Writer/director Elric Kane’s (and co-writer Webb Wilcoxen) singular debut feature film is a superbly crafted supernatural spectacle. The Dead Thing starts slow and deliberate; rather than rushing into an overwritten plot with underwritten characters, Kane and Wilcoxen allow the audience to sit with Alex in her neverending love life. One aspect of Alex that I, and hopefully many will, appreciate is how Alex is written. Rarely does Alex feel written from the perspective of the male gaze. Her life may not be going in the exact direction she wants, but the film never makes it out to be a her problem. At no point do they try and make Alex out to be a floozy or condemn her for the life she’s living, instead they make those who live the same kind of lifestyle feel seen. The film asks the audience if they ever feel like there’s no escape; too many of us can relate to that.
It doesn’t matter how a character is written if the acting doesn’t deliver, and Blu Hunt delivers. Set aside the fact that she has one of the most badass names I’ve ever heard, Hunt provides an astounding lead performance. Whether she’s walking alone down a Los Angeles street, or playing off of her longtime friend Cara (Katherine Hughes), coworker Chris (John Karna), or the mysterious[ly handsome] Kyle, Hunt gives it her all. It helps that Ben Smith-Peterson and the supporting cast all give overwhelmingly brilliant performances.
Supernatural stories aren’t usually my go-to. They can be too overwritten, too style over substance, too “elevated”, or just plain boring. The Dead Thing quickly finds its footing and lets the audience accept it or not. Kane and cinematographer Ioana Vasile (who was a still photographer for Pontypool!!!) wonderfully capture the sometimes-solitary, sometimes-overstimulating beautiful hellscape that is Los Angeles. It should also be noted that one of my favorite actors in the world, Matt Mercer is a producer on this film.
The Dead Thing hits the perfect blend of claustrophobic loneliness and endless yearning. Just like Dr. Rebekah McKendry, it’s clear that Elric Kane doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. For his debut feature film, The Dead Thing doesn’t need resuscitation. I’d say run, don’t walk, to check this one out, but if you do…look left and right before crossing the street.
The Dead Thing hits Shudder on Friday, February 14! Watch it with your partner if you can, or watch it alone with a tub of ice cream and an overflowing glass of wine. I won’t judge.
Reviews
[REVIEW] ‘Bride of Chucky’ Takes The Franchise In A New Direction
Bride of Chucky follows two groups of people who inevitably meet up for a final climactic finale. Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) procures Chucky’s (Brad Dourif) body following the events of Child’s Play 3. Her goal is to perform a voodoo ritual to put his soul back into a human’s body. Through a questionable series of events, Chucky kills Tiffany and puts her soul into the body of a doll. The side story follows Jade Kincaid (Katherine Heigl) and Jesse Miller (Nick Stabile) who elope, with a thousand dollars, from Jade’s overbearing police chief uncle Warren (John Ritter). After Chucky kills Warren, Jade and Jesse are fingered for the murder. That’s when hijinks ensue.

The Child’s Play franchise is all over the place. What started as a [fairly] serious slasher series surrounding a killer doll would morph into a Nightmare on Elm Street-like horror comedy before self-correcting to find a solid middle ground. I’ll be the first to admit that I have never really cared much for this franchise. Child’s Play frightened me when I was a kid, and it wouldn’t be until my college years that I decided to watch Bride and Seed–this altered my overall opinion of what the franchise stood for. Watching Child’s Play 2 and 3 back in college left me wondering how a franchise as culturally impactful as this one fluctuated in style and substance.
Bride of Chucky follows two groups of people who inevitably meet up for a final climactic finale. Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) procures Chucky’s (Brad Dourif) body following the events of Child’s Play 3. Her goal is to perform a voodoo ritual to put his soul back into a human’s body. Through a questionable series of events, Chucky kills Tiffany and puts her soul into the body of a doll. The side story follows Jade Kincaid (Katherine Heigl) and Jesse Miller (Nick Stabile) who elope, with a thousand dollars, from Jade’s overbearing police chief uncle Warren (John Ritter). After Chucky kills Warren, Jade and Jesse are fingered for the murder. That’s when hijinks ensue.
Before the comments start, let’s return to the opening comment regarding Child’s Play turning into a horror comedy. Chucky was always one for quips. Like Freddy Krueger, Chucky would hit a one-liner shortly before or after his kill. These jokes worked to help cut through Chucky’s horror. It gave some momentary relief from the kills. Bride of Chucky is just one long gag, and for me, it’s frustrating. Like Nightmare, Bride of Chucky has lost the plot. Every scene seems to exist to facilitate a setup for the next bit or one-liner, rather than having moments of comedy flow naturally. The doll sex scene and swinger couple bits are just poorly thought-out filler.
I know this is going to anger some of you, but Bride of Chucky is a seriously awful movie.
There are a few moments that I do truly enjoy and work well in the overall Child’s Play universe. Tiffany kills the officer she buys Chucky’s body from with a nail file and then uses it to file her nails. The moment Tiffany stabs Chucky in the back at the cemetery is a great character moment, but it makes everything that led up to it pointless. With the exception of a few moments here and there, Bride of Chucky ends up being a chore to watch rather than entertainment. For a genre that has always been political, gay representation has been lacking for quite some time. The character of David Collins (Gordon Michael Woolvett) is a welcome addition to the story, but he feels underutilized in the grand scheme of it all.
While I may not care for the franchise much, I’ve done some research on it over the years. Bride of Chucky features many recycled bits from other Child’s Play scripts and you can really feel it. The kills are few and far between and feel overly forced. Child’s Play 4 was initially put on hold after the abysmal box office of Child’s Play 3 and maybe writer/director Don Mancini should have taken another year or so to really flesh out the canon of Chucky. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of Tiffany becoming a doll and becoming pregnant with Chucky’s baby. But I don’t think the ends justify the means.
Cult and Curse of Chucky, thankfully, take the series back to a more grounded and to-the-roots nature of what Child’s Play was, and I’m glad it took nearly a decade after Seed for it to come to fruition. Mancini is an excellent voice in horror, but time and constraints are necessary for his vision to be fully realized. Those who are Child’s Play die-hards will probably disagree with everything I’ve said, and that’s okay. As a casual Chucky fan, Bride of Chucky feels nothing more than a nu-metal, Hot Topic, try-hard entry into the franchise. The kills look solid, and Dourif gives an incredible vocal performance (as always) but there’s little to no substance to Bride of Chucky.
No wonder half of all marriages end in divorce.