Ridley Scott

While audiences remain pretty split on Ridley Scott’s first official Alien film in nearly 40 years, one thing we can all agree on is there are some interesting gaps in the storytelling. It’s always difficult to argue that fans need to do homework before seeing a movie to appreciate the film; while there certainly are some clips and features available online that add depth to Alien: Covenant, a movie should always stand on its own two legs, and those frustrated by Scott’s decision to chop out sections of the movie aren’t going to give him a pass because they may be added back in somewhere later in the process.

Fox has done a nice job of hyping Alien: Covenant with videos setting up the movie’s story. “The Crossing” explains what happened to the survivors from Prometheus in between the two films. And “The Last Supper,” embedded above, features the crew of the spaceship Covenant at the beginning of their mission to colonize a distant planet. These aren’t traditional trailers or teasers; they’re full “prologue” scenes released on YouTube. In Alien terms, this kind of marketing is like hugging someone’s face to prime them for a hideous creature bursting out of their chest.

A new Alien opens in theaters this Friday; Alien: Covenant is the first movie in the beloved sci-fi franchise since 2012’s Prometheus, and the first with the word “alien” in the title since 2007’s timeless classic Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. Audiences will decide whether Covenant is a worthy sequel (we liked it), but even if they do, the overwhelming odds are they will find it no better than the third best movie in the history of the series. That’s because the first two movies in the series — Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens — are amongst the best sci-fi films ever made.

They’re not called face-huggers for nothin’. That’s a lesson Demian Bichir learns the hard way in the latest clip from Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, which introduces a whole new unlucky crew of space-travelers who swiftly become a bloody buffet for the iconic xenomorphs and their various mutations. Judging by all the clips and trailers we’ve seen so far, it doesn’t look like most of these people are making it off that planet alive, but it wouldn’t be an Alien movie if almost everyone wasn’t gruesomely murdered by a xenomorph.

When someone says they’re going to keep doing something until they die, they’re usually being figurative. But it would seem that Ridley Scott, now at age 79, fully intends on making the Alien franchise into his tomb. It’s impressive enough that he’s forged the most gore-heavy entry this deep into both the series and his own career, but Scott’s not losing his edge any time soon. In a new interview with Yahoo, Scott spoke about the future of the Alien movies, and you might wanna put on some shades, because the future’s looking real bright.

The title of Alien: Covenant directly refers to the spaceship carrying the film’s human characters, and indirectly refers to the film’s most pervasive theme: The tense relationship between gods and their creations. Students of the Old Testament learn about God’s covenant with Abraham, which promised the prophet the land of Israel in exchange for, among other things, his male descendants’ foreskin. Some gods work in mysterious ways; the ones in Alien: Covenant certainly do.

Alien: Covenant hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but that doesn’t mean that Ridley Scott can rest on his laurels just yet. With Prometheus, he expanded the Alien universe, and with Covenant he’s poised to expand it some more. That leaves plenty of room for his prospective slate of future Alien films, starting with his Covenant follow-up, which is currently untitled, but will be ready to film in a little more than a year.

If you’re one of the people who thought that Ridley Scott’s Prometheus was a franchise-killer, then you’ve probably awaited the first round of Alien: Covenant reviews with a strong sense of dread. Maybe even the same degree of dread you experienced while watching Alien for the first time, come to think of it. And while I’ll passionately defend Prometheus for days  —  I’ve recently come around on that film in a big way  —  there’s no denying that Alien: Covenant is the biggest question mark of the summer. Could Scott build a bridge between the grandiose science-fiction of Prometheus and the grounded horror of Alien?

Alien: Covenant is arriving soon, whether we’re ready for it or not, and a short new clip assures us that this movie is definitely more horror than sci-fi. Even these thirty seconds are enough to make one feel antsy, and the final sound effect is enough to send a million chills down the spine. The Xenomorphs are back, baby!

You definitely know Alien, and you love the series’ long-running heroine, Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver. But did you know that in the original script for Alien, Ripley wasn’t written as a female role? It was director Ridley Scott who had the idea to make the character female, and to cast a relative unknown, because he thought (correctly) that audiences would assume this young woman was doomed, leading to a surprise when she becomes the survivor of the xenomorph’s attack. That’s just one of the alienating facts featured in the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies!