Nearly 50 years later, Alien’s Xenomorph remains one of the greatest and most terrifying monster designs of all time. With its gnarled limbs, double snapping jaws, slimy skin, and propensity for sneaking around in dark corners, it’s a creature that still inspires awe and fear. And it’s none more scary than when conjured practically – with real, tangible puppet effects. So, that’s exactly what filmmaker Fede Alvarez chose for Alien: Romulus, his new face-hugging, chest-bursting horror, aiming to bridge the tense terror of Alien with the all-out war thrills of Aliens.
For star Cailee Spaeny, those practical Xenomorph effects were a game-changer. “The puppeteers were absolutely brilliant,” she tells Empire in a major new career interview. “I mean, they were really puppeteering these creatures. I just don’t think we see that anymore; we turned a corner where everything became green screens and acting to tennis balls. So it’s so nice to bring it back. I think you can feel it on screen.” There are no additional bells and whistles needed – the design of the creature remains pure, sleek dread. “Just the way [H.R.] Giger [designer of the original aliens] played with the human anatomy and the sexual parts... ugh, there’s something really sort of primal,” Spaeny says. “The second you see that creature, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. And it’s still shocking. I’ve seen that creature so many times, and when it’s right there in your face, and we’re doing scenes where I’m acting against it — it’s still terrifying.”
For the actor, her fear of the alien goes back to her youth. “I was really scared of horror when I was a kid,” she recalls. “My first memory of Alien is my dad watching it in the living room and me thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll watch this.’ And then once I got an idea of what it was going to be — once the chest- bursting scene came up — I went... (sharp intake of breath), ‘Oooh, no, I can’t,’ and then ran down to my room. But I was still very curious, so I would come up and peek and then get scared again, run back down the stairs.” Expect Alien: Romulus to replicate that experience for a whole new generation.
Read Empire’s full career-spanning interview with Cailee Spaeny – talking Alien: Romulus, Priscilla, Devs, Civil War, Mare Of Easttown and more – in the Joker: Folie À Deux issue, on sale Thursday 1 August. Pre-order a copy online here. Alien: Romulus comes to UK cinemas from 16 August.