Alien: Romulus

What’s it about?

A group of young miners break into an abandoned spaceship in an attempt to escape their colony – only for their plans to be disrupted by the strange and horrifying life forms they find on board.

The facts

• Directed by Fede Alvarez
• English language
• Runtime: 118 minutes
• Follows on from the events of Alien (1979)

Why did it get this rating?

This film was classified by Te Mana Whakaatu—Classification Office. You can find out more about classification process and ratings here.

Horror

A variety of aliens, big and small, chase and attack people. Very large alien creatures lurk around the walls of the spaceship, and are a bit gross.

Smaller aliens skitter around and launch themselves at people. One attaches itself to a person’s head, puts a tentacle down their throat, and chokes them.

Other aliens infect their human hosts before escaping. This is bloody and gruesome, showing people in significant pain and distress as they die.

Human corpses are shown trapped on walls. One dangles from the ceiling, the back of its head caved in.

A non-human character appears throughout the film with its body severed at the torso.

Violence

Throughout the film, people are suffocated, picked up, dragged away and impaled by large aliens, and melted by their acid blood. Some shots are brief and cut away quickly. Others are more detailed, showing stab wounds, skin melting off of people’s bones, and bloody impact.

In one scene, many aliens are shot in an area without gravity, causing their blood to spray and linger in the air.

Some characters suffer accidental falls from large heights. They survive but are injured.

Offensive language

Words like “f**k”, “sh*t”, “b**ch” and “d*ck” are sometimes used, usually as reactions to the stressful situations the characters are faced with.

Drug use

One young character smokes a joint as the spaceship they are on takes off. His friends laugh and seem to be impressed.

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?
• Are scary films good for anything?
• Quick take: Alien (1979)
• Quick take: Aliens (1986)