While the founder of Weyland Corp, and instead was a more grounded focus on characters meeting the very real threats of the xenomorphs and facehuggers.
That's not to say that Alien: Romulus wasn't without its fair share of connections to its other movies. The immediate planet it's set on, as well as the titular space station, are both owned by Weyland-Yutani, while the black goo from Prometheus that holds transformative abilities makes a return, revealed to be fluid harvested from facehuggers. But Romulus also had sneakier Easter eggs for the wider Alien franchise, and while it seemed like one element would return from an oft-forgotten branch of the series, it never truly did.
Alien: Isolation Truly Amplified The Fear Of The Franchise's Vent Portals
Players Rarely Knew If A Xenomorph Was Waiting To Grab Them
Alien: Isolation is one of the more underappreciated expansions of the sci-fi horror franchise. Set 15 years after the original film and 42 years before James Cameron's sequel, the video game put players in the shoes of Ellen Ripley's daughter, Amanda, who heads to the Seegson Corporation space station, the Sevastopol, to learn of the latest information that could lead her to finding her missing mother. Upon arrival, Amanda finds herself facing off against malfunctioning androids, xenomorphs, and facehuggers.
Developed by Creative Assembly, Alien: Isolation not only proved to be a wonderful love letter to fans of the franchise, but also the best video game in it. Utilizing everything from the iconic motion tracker detecting the xenomorphs' movements to flamethrowers in defense, the 2014 title really felt like a fully immersive take on the Alien world, and one of the most exciting ways it did so was the vent portals located through the Sevastopol.
Alien: Romulus 2: Could Ellen Ripley’s Daughter Show Up In the Sequel?
Given the timelines of Alien: Romulus, could Ellen Ripley's daughter from Alien: Isolation appear in the sequel?
Initially presented to the player as a means of getting around obstacles in the station, Alien: Isolation turned them into a terrifying thing as the xenomorphs also began using them to travel. Players quickly found themselves walking cautiously by the vents in the hopes a xenomorph wasn't waiting inside, or had their fingers hovering on the trigger on the off-chance they encountered one while climbing through and needed to pull out a flare or flamethrower to protect themselves.
Alien: Romulus Made A Pretty Big Deal About The Vents (Then Didn't Use Them)
Between Multiple Sequences In Them & Long Shots Lingering On Them, It Was A Missed Xenomorph Opportunity
Coming into Alien: Romulus, the movie excelled in not only delivering a variety of Easter eggs, but also delivering its own take on iconic moments from the past. This included bringing back the vent portals, with Andy, Tyler and Bjorn all having to climb through them in order to get to where the cryopods are being stored. But aside from this and a brief glimpse at the horde of facehuggers the trio accidentally unleashed making their way through the space station's vents, they're never brought back, which was a real disappointment.
More than just Isolation, even Alien saw the vents play a big part in delivering some tense sequences. The most notable was that of Tom Skerritt's Dallas entering the vents with both a flamethrower and a motion tracker in the hopes of flushing it out into an airlock. And while we got a glimpse of the xenomorph just prior as it killed Harry Dean Stanton's Brett, our first head-on look at the now-iconic alien came from as it attacked Dallas in the vent, making for a great jump scare long before those were a major tool in the horror genre.
Alien: Romulus Timeline - When It Takes Place Compared To The Other Movies
The ninth installment in the Alien film series, Alien: Romulus, has been released 38 years after the first movie, but it makes the timeline confusing.
As such, it was pretty disappointing that Alien: Romulus didn't see the xenomorphs utilizing the portal vents to hunt down their prey. It's not like there weren't other opportunities for them to do so as the film progressed, particularly as Rain and Andy found themselves largely relegated to one section of the station amid Rook shutting down their efforts to escape. Though Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues don't necessarily come up with a lackluster means to get the characters to safety, as the zero-gravity floating sequence is quite exciting, a return to the vents could've been quite exciting.
Future Alien Movies Should Find Creative Ways To Utilize The Portal Vents
The Xenomorphs Aren't The Only Threat To Come From Them
With Alien: Romulus proving to be a critical and commercial hit, the franchise's future looks brighter than ever, particularly as 20th Century Studios confirmed there are plans for both a sequel to it and a new film from Ridley Scott. Given there are multiple films on the horizon, the door is certainly wide open for the proper utilization of the portal vents to create some more scares with the xenomorphs. Romulus recreated the feel of a fight for survival against the alien creatures, but the vents could really amplify that further.
The other thing that movies after Alien: Romulus should consider is that the xenomorphs don't need to be the only major threat to come from the portal vents. Considering Weyland-Yutani proves to be as menacing of a corporation as ever, it would actually be interesting to see if a reactivated MU/TH/UR uses the sharp design of the portal shutters to kill a person trying to escape or, if during a visit to another deserted station like the Renaissance, a similar thing happens. Whatever future filmmakers choose, there are too many options for them to choose from to not reincorporate the vents into the films.
Alien: Romulus
- Release Date
- August 16, 2024
- Runtime
- 119 Minutes
- Director
- Fede Alvarez
Cast
Rain
Andy
WHERE TO WATCH
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.
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