When Fede Alvarez declared that his film Alien: Romulus would be a return to the way things used to be for the Alien franchise, it was met with natural enthusiasm. Alvarez promised as many practical effects as possible, to begin with. Combine that with a genuine love and understanding of what made Alien, and Aliens in particular, such groundbreaking classics, and it’s fair to say that our first glimpses of the latest Alien film have been building excitement.

I'm glad to finally see a brand new official Alien movie in theaters. The fact that it looks like we're in for a really good movie for the first time in decades certainly helps.

But there’s still a bit of fear. Going back to basics makes sense for a franchise that’s getting increasingly frantic and changing its design ethos as often as the Sonic the Hedgehog series of games. Narrow it down; give us a haunted house in space with some action and gruesome body horror, and that’ll do.

My only concern (and yes, it might be my concern) is that I’m not sure the magic Alvarez is aiming for is still possible. In the years since Aliens , the franchise has suffered something of an identity crisis, resulting in messy retcons galore and a convoluted, disjointed sprawl of xenomorph lore and variants.