All through October, I’ll be posting reviews of the best of the best films in the horror genre released since October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024. As an added bonus, I’ll be adding a secondary review that may be somewhat related to the main review or slightly missed the countdown by inches. Follow along the countdown every day in October. Feel free to agree, disagree, or better yet, give me your own picks for your favorite horror movies of the year. Happy Halloween!

#12 – ALIEN: ROMULUS (2024)
Released on August 16, 2024, and is available On Demand and digital download from 20th Century Studios!
Directed by Fede Alvarez.
Written by Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/x0XDEhP4MQs
Cailee Spaeny plays Rain, an orphan who struggles to earn enough work points to leave the mining planet she resides in and move to another planet where she can actually see the sun. When her trip off planet is declined, Rain is desperate and with her synthezoid companion, Andy (David Jonsson), accepts an invitation from her friends to leave the planet on their own and sneak into an orbiting science station called Romulus – like the name of the movie – to retrieve cryo-units that will take them to their sunny destination. Little do their know, the abandoned space station isn’t empty. It’s filled with a fresh crop of face huggers, just waiting to hug some faces.

Functioning as a sequel to the original ALIEN, ALIEN ROMULUS is a solid entry in the franchise. It may be my third most favorite after, of course, the first and second one. Still, ALIEN: ROMULUS is at its weakest when it plays as a greatest hits version of the franchise. There are moments when iconic lines are repeated from the first two ALIEN films that fell flat and made me feel somewhat embarrassed for the film. While I didn’t mind the film borrowing the basic story structure of the first film, the callbacks in the script were much more difficult to swallow.

The story structure is basically the same as ALIENS—get in and get out of a space station before it blows up and these space millennials would’ve gotten away with it too if not for those pesky xenomorphs. Yes, these are all youngsters taking on the Aliens and what this film is missing is that grungy, blue-collar trucker feel of the cast of ALIEN. Here they have shaggy hair and good teeth. Like they all just jumped out of a Banana Republic catalog. The lack of variety in age of the cast is going to turn off some, but for the most part, the intense pace and some key performances made me turn a blind eye to it.

The cast is serviceable with the standout being David Jonsson as the out of date, yet loyal synthetic human. There’s such a hound dog sadness in his droopy eyes that makes you immediately think he’s suffered ages of torment. He bears the brunt of all of the abuse as well, as others in this group have issues with synthezoids. Andy’s loyalty to Rain is the heart of the movie.

And in order to be scared you have to care about the characters in peril. Thankfully, lead Cailee Spaeny works as the spunky Rain. She lacks the gravitas of Sigourney Weaver, but despite the fact that she’s a dinky little lass, she sells the toughness as the film never makes her do any kind of superhero acts and keep all of her action within the limits of her size. The main theme of ROMULUS is very similar to that of ALIENS, that being losing a loved one. In order for this mission to be accomplished, Rain must make a sacrifice and is willing to do so, but it’s no easy decision. The film makes it a choice whether to leave someone behind rather than someone dealing with the regret and remorse of leaving a loved one that was prevalent in Ripley’s ALIENS arc. In that movie, Ripley was trying to redeem herself. In ROMULUS, Rain must make a decision. It’s a slight variation on the theme, but enough of a change to make ROMULUS thematically different.

What impressed me most about ALIEN: ROMULUS was that it did harken back to the franchise’s horror roots. While the in and out story structure is all ALIENS, there is much more of an attention to the body horror and conventional haunted house atmosphere with the maze-like, abandoned space station. We see a few new tricks up the xenomorphs sleeves in terms of how resilient they are. And we also get some more clues into Weyland Yutani’s interest in the alien which adds to the conspiracy and mystery angles of the franchise. Alvarez tosses in some intense scenes of the alien pursuit through the tunnels and some jump scares that actually work. Nothing as horrifying as the jump scare in the tunnel with Tom Skerritt in Alien, but still I shot back into my chair a time or two in this one. One of the more interesting turns is that there is more of an attention to the xenomorphs in the various phases of development with face huggers skuttering around the ship after folks like creepy spiders and hibernation cocoons that retain the icky vaginal shapes seen in Geiger’s original designs.

Sure, taking the story forward and possibly doing something new with the franchise would be cool. And maybe we will get that with the Alien TV series coming next year from Noah Hawley. Still, this is a quality installment in the series. It doesn’t have stupid scientists taking their protective masks off in a foreign environment or someone stapling a Cesarian operation shut and then running, jumping and fighting aliens for another hour. So at least it doesn’t have the head slapping logic from Scott’s prequels. Much like his EVIL DEAD remake, Alvarez doesn’t reinvent the wheel with ALIEN ROMULUS. He just updates it with some solid, serious scares, a fast pace, and a modern edge. I had a good time with it. It looks and sounds great. The central theme got me invested and I jumped a few times. Plus, the practical effects were downright amazing to behold. What more do you want from an Alien movie?

Plus – INFESTED (aka VERMINES, 2023)
Released on April 26, 2024, and is streaming on Shudder!
Directed by Sébastien Vanicek.
Written by Florent Bernard, Sébastien Vanicek.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/LR-uiy20_zM
Kaleb (Théo Christine) and his sister Lila (Sofia Lesaffre) live together in an apartment complex, taking care of one another since their mother died, though both seem to resent one another, thinking the other one is wasting their life. Kaleb makes a living selling stolen merchandise and has recently gotten his hands on a large collection of tennis shoes which he sells to the kids in his neighborhood. Kaleb also has an appreciation for exotic animals, specifically reptiles and insects. When his fencer for stolen goods receives an exotic spider from the Middle Eastern desert, Kaleb has to have the large arachnid. Little does Kaleb know that the spider reproduces at an exceptional rate each generation seems to grow larger than the last. As the spider infestation spreads through the apartment complex, Kaleb, Lila, and their friends must make their way through cobwebbed halls in order to escape. But the government, getting wind of the infestation, has quarantined the building, making escape impossible.

INFESTED is a rock-solid little creature feature from France. It manage to capture that instant feeling of fear and revulsion when one sees a spider in one’s home. It’s that feeling of invasion and alarm that you get when you see those spider legs twitch and move. That feeling that makes you want to smash it, though, personally, I usually attempt to transport it to the nearest open window. Still, I have felt the feelings of conflict the lead Kaleb feels of fascination and disgust upon encountering such little monsters. While the concept of a spider infestation has been covered numerous times in the horror genre, INFESTED still manages to create some unique and creative scenarios of spider mayhem that I hadn’t seen before. And even the ones that are familiar, director Sébastien Vanicek stages these scenes in ways to amplify the shocks, jumps, and thrills, nevertheless.

The CGI spiders are pretty seamless here. While the spiders aren’t particularly different than those we’ve all encountered before, the fact that they look so real does make them all the scarier. The speed these little critters show when they leap to attack or just skitter across the ceiling are definitely going to give you chills.

But while the spider scenes are some of the most effective, the leads, though they are talented actors, try their hardest to get you to dislike them. As Kaleb, Théo Christine plays him as an angry, impulsive, and reckless youth. He’s all emotion. In fact, everyone in this movie seems to be pissed off at something and while that is understandable when the situation goes dire and spidery, the cast seems salty even before the arachnids attack. This makes it hard to root for them when the webs get spun. While there is a nice little character arc and conflict between Kaleb and his sister Lila (Sofia Lesaffre), they are so negative towards one another from the get-go, that it almost makes them irredeemable. Almost. Still, it is evident this group of younger actors have talent. They just spend the whole time in this movie scowling, weeping profusely, and yelling at one another.

INFESTED is a blend of ARACHNOPHOBIA, [REC], and ATTACK THE BLOCK as it traps these angry street kids in an apartment with a bunch of spiders with no escape in sight. It’s a fun mix. One that works, for the most part, and manages to squeeze some new and exciting ways to further our fears of these multi-appendaged monsters. This is going to be a recommend as a fun, modern creature feature that’ll cause a few squirms and jolts for sure.

The Best in Horror Countdown 2023-2024
#31 – HERE FOR BLOOD (DESTROY ALL NEIGHBORS)
#30 – THANKSGIVING (THE SACRIFICE GAME)
#29 – MILK & SERIAL (LOWLIFES)
#28 – PROJECT SILENCE (FROGMAN)
#27 – THE SEEDING (DARK HARVEST)
#26 – BEEZEL (THE FRESH HELL TRILOGY)
#25 – ABERRANCE (COLD MEAT)
#24 – OUT OF DARKNESS (ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH)
#23 – ARCADIAN (A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE)
#22 – YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME (GHOSTS OF THE VOID)
#21 – NEVER LET GO (LOVELY, DARK, & DEEP)
#20 – ABIGAIL (BLACKOUT)
#19 – SPEAK NO EVIL (EIGHT EYES)
#18 – BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (LISA FRANKENSTEIN)
#17 – MAXXXINE (SHERYL)
#16 – CUCKOO (AMELIA’S CHILDREN)
#15 – 15 CAMERAS (MIDNIGHT PEEPSHOW)
#14 – DO NOT DISTURB (KILL YOUR LOVER)
#13 – WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS (HELL HOLE)
#12 – ALIEN: ROMULUS (INFESTED)

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Music & Arrangement by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy https://youtu.be/PDySbxQgZMg
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