Alien: Romulus Breeds A Great Villain From The Most Hated Alien Movies

Contains spoilers for "Alien: Romulus"

Just like a xenomorph, Fede Álvarez's "Alien: Romulus" has managed to brilliantly store itself away in between the cracks of the "Alien" saga by not only telling an awesome story but honoring the franchise as a whole. All of it. For every obvious wink and nod to the film that started it all, there're also the small details that only die-hard fans of every chapter will notice. What might be Álvarez's greatest achievement in his chest-bursting love letter, however, is the way he makes the best out of the bad things in two of the least popular and divisive "Alien" movies: "Alien: Resurrection" and "Prometheus."

While your X (formerly Twitter) feed might have seen a splurge of revisionists backing the fourth and fifth films in the "Alien" franchise, Rotten Tomatoes scores from both critics and audiences confirm that, historically speaking, these weren't exactly considered to be classic chapters in the history of the xenomorph. What a wonderful bit of DNA splicing on Álvarez's part then that his Offspring (as it's so unsettlingly referred to in the credits) appears in the final act and resembles the iconic beasties (for better or worse) from both of those films.

Brought to life courtesy of the big screen debut of Robert Bobroczkyi, the Offspring has the height and facial features of the Engineers, the alien know-it-alls that sent the Prometheus for the answers to the meaning of life in Ridley Scott's prequel. But it also harkens back to a much maligned horror in what, at one point, was nearly the final nail in the acid-soaked coffin of the "Alien" universe.

With those pearl-black eyes and bald head, there's no mistaking that the Engineer from "Prometheus" informed Fede Álvarez's own monstrous contribution to the "Alien" franchise. But the warped pale skin and physique of the Offspring harken back to the 1997 "Alien: Resurrection," a movie that tends to sit at the bottom of the pile for many of the franchise's fans. While "Resurrection" took just as many bold swings as "Alien: Romulus" does (the group of swimming xenomorphs is still a brilliant visual), the thing most people remember is the alien/human hybrid that Ripley 8 (the clone of our original hero, also played by Sigourney Weaver) faces off with — a creature that the Offspring is clearly meant to be a precursor to.

From the shreds of monstrous humanity in its design to the thin extremities that aren't quite as ribbed or biomechanical as H.R. Giger's original alien creations, there's no doubt that this beastie is related to the Newborn, even if that creature won't actually be brought to life for another two centuries or so ("Resurrection" is set 257 years after the original film). It's a great effort at bridging the franchise's past to its future from a director who is clearly a fan before anything else. In the end, it's this and a whole lot of other tricks that "Alien: Romulus" pulls off that accomplish what all sequels should aim for: convincing fans to go back and watch the entire series from the beginning. Even the ones you didn't like the first time around.