In recent years, classic horror franchises have been going through a major revival period, and finally, at the hands of creators who put their inventive spin on the narrative and dedicate effort to scripting and characterization, it genuinely feels like the storytelling purpose has finally overpowered the profit-oriented necessity of franchise continuation. Director Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus joins this revered list of franchise revitalizing horror movies along with recent fan favorites like Evil Dead Rise and Prey, simply by following the same formula—taking things back to basics and expanding the established mythos of the saga in a new direction.

Alien: Romulus is set between the events of the original Alien and its sequel, Aliens, and revolves around a band of scavengers who were unfortunate enough to peep into the dreadful machinations of the evil all-controlling conglomerate, the Weyland-Yutani corp, and encounter the nightmarish horrors of dark recesses of the cosmos.