Movies
‘Alien: Covenant’ Will Have Multiple Aliens “Coming Out of People”!
We knew we were in for a treat the second Ridley Scott abandoned the Prometheus title and instead went with Alien: Covenant.
It was a sign that he was leaving his sci-fi-themed spinoff on another planet and would return to the roots of the Alien franchise for which he launched in 1979.
Scott has talked a lot about this, promising that Alien: Covenant will feature not only the Xenomorph, but also the iconic egg and facehugger, to go along with a chestburster. “There was always this discussion: Is Alien, the character, the beast, played out or not?” Scott stated before dropping this mega-bomb. “We’ll have them all: egg, facehugger, chestburster, then the big boy.”
The one connective tissue between Prometheus and Covenant is that Michael Fassbender is returning as the android, David. With X-Men returning to theaters, he’s had to do press from Sydney where he’s currently filming the next installment of the Alien franchise.
In an interview with Inquirer he confirms the returns to the franchise roots stating that there are going to be “aliens coming out of people,” while also talking about how Scott uses noodles to connect us to the future.
“There are going to be great sets and aliens coming out of people,” Michael promised about Ridley’s ‘Covenant,’ the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that started with ‘Prometheus.’
“It’s amazing to watch Ridley work. I try to soak up as much knowledge as I can from him, because having worked on this kind of films a few times and having seen how many moving parts there are, how many people work on the set and how many departments need attention and the language, he’s an absolute master.
“The sets are fantastic. Again, the most impressive sets I’ve seen since ‘Prometheus,’ which was the original setting. It’s a fantastic mixture of high-end technology and primitive elements. The way that I can explain it is the same way that Ridley did ‘Blade Runner.’
“You have this futuristic world where people are eating noodles, because that seems to be the cheaper food and something that will fill you up. But it’s also something that harks back to the past. The weaving of those two things—past and future—together makes for an interesting world that we can aspire to, but also recognize something in it.”
Michael Fassbender is returning as Prometheus‘ android, David, with Katherine Waterston(Inherent Vice, Jobs, The Babysitters) leading a new crew that included Demian Bichir and the hilarious Danny McBride (“Eastbound and Down”), as well as Alex England (Gods of Egypt), Billy Crudup, Amy Seimetz (pictured; A Horrible Way to Die, “The Killing”), Jussie Smollett (“Empire”), Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez (Machete Kills).
Alien: Covenant – here’s everything we know so far – takes off for Paradise on August 4, 2017.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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