Finally, in the 2nd, far less graphic trailer for Alien: Covenant, the connection to Prometheus is made clear.
Though Ridley Scott returned to the Alien franchise in 2012, with the “Not an Alien Prequel” that was clearly a strange Alien Prequel, Prometheus, things are only now beginning to look a look a lot like 1979’s Alien! In this direct sequel to Prometheus, “Alien” triumphantly returns to the title, in time for a new series of films leading us into the original classic. The following trailer takes the elements and threads left from Prometheus and builds it into a horror film finally worthy to follow what I consider the scariest film of all time… Alien.
We got eggs and facehuggers! Creepy hallways and Xenomorphs! New to the equation are couples, at first a curiosity in the Prologue released last week, now established as being a necessity for a crew set on colonizing a new world. These more intense relationships will surely make the ability to let go and the pain of loss that follows all the worse. On this new world, the crew of the Covenant find plant-life from Earth… but no other living beings… animal or otherwise. What they do find is the ship that Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and David’s head (Michael Fassbender) used to escape the deadly planet in Prometheus. And it looks like they brought a few horrors with them. How nice.
This trailer for Alien: Covenant shows me all the iconic imagery and tight corridor chills I want to see… along with a big fucking Alien! (For more… check out all these SCREENGRABS!)
Also… new Poster!
May 19th can’t come soon enough!
On that day, you will here me scream… with joy! (And in terror…)
Surprise! 20th Century Fox just released a “Prologue” for May’s Alien: Covenant, directed by Ridley Scott.
“Last Supper” gives us a fun introduction to the larger-than-average “crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy*,” following the disappearance of the exploration ship Prometheus. We have the chance to spend our first and final meal with characters played by James Franco, Billy Crudup, Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterson, Danny McBride… and many more I don’t know yet! These Alien movies have a reputation, so which one or two characters will actually survive?
Watch the Prologue for Alien: Covenant, “The Last Supper” below. Then we’ll hit on a few fun Easter Eggs, references, and foreshadowing from the scene.
Foreboding, no?
First off, this feels like Alien. It looks like Alien. Could this finally be the horror follow-up to 1979’s Alien, that I’ve been waiting for? There is a clever Alien fake-out that comes when one of the crew begins to choke, immediately conjuring images of that Chestburster ripping through John Hurt (RIP) in the original film. Danny McBride’s character also seems to reference the events that kicked off Aliens… or something like it. Of course, Michael Fassbender, playing a different android than David from Prometheus… in this scene… ties the film to the one that precedes it. Even with the Aliens Easter Egg, this should all be set between the events of Prometheus and Alien.
There have been worries that having not one, but two, “Team Seth Rogen” actors, McBride and Franco, would tilt the film too far into the comedy zone, even though the two have both great dramatic work and the initial Red Band Trailer is dark and scary as shit. Franco is sullen in the clip, literally ill, while McBride is off making Cum jokes… which really doesn’t feel out of place when you have Crudup telling his wife that McBride is an ass. What is the deal with Franco, though? In the trailer he seems to be the 1st victim of a possible “backburster,” based on something he picked up on “what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world.*” Or, it could be my theory, a complete transformation into the new Xenomorph!The other fun detail to note is the new android Fassbender is playing. I say new, because it has been confirmed Fassbender is a robot on the Covenant we’ve never met, while David from Prometheus (or his head) will be found later in the film. Fassbender is playing a very different synthetic at this point; his movement is more robotic than David’s and his sense of humor/humanity is infantile. Though we can assume this is a newer model than David based on the timeline, perhaps he is more of a blank slate, as he has not had the decades alone while his crew was in cryosleep to learn and practice being human.
Finally, we actually see married couples, including two gay men, aboard a ship together. There have often been flings in these movies, but this crew is practically made up of families, sans children. Someone also mentions getting marooned… which seems to be extreme foreshadowing based on the final part of the Alien: Covenant synopsis, “When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.”
I guess we’ll find out who gets to live on May 19th when Alien: Covenant hits the big screen.
RUN!!!
* Excerpts from the official synopsis for the film.
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