The film Ridley Scott called the thinking man’s scary movie: “I’m scared about getting highbrow”
Ridley Scott isn’t necessarily thought of as a horror director, but he has contributed his fair share to the genre. In 2001, he made Hannibal, a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs with Anthony Hopkins returning to the role of Hannibal Lecter. Whilst that film got mixed reviews, there’s also the small matter of perhaps the greatest sci-fi horror movie of all time – Alien.
Scott’s slasher movie in space changed the game in so many ways. Not only did it allow Sigourney Weaver to break the mould as a female hero, but it also gave the world the Xenomorph, one of the scariest beasts ever to grace a screen. Whilst the immediate follow-up to the film – James Cameron’s Aliens – is more of an action flick, other entries in the series have returned to these horror roots. One of which, according to Scott at least, does so in a very clever way.
In 2017, Scott put out Alien: Covenant, the sixth film in the franchise and a sequel to 2012’s Prometheus. “When I decided to resurrect the story, I felt I couldn’t let it go so dark so soon,” Scott told Variety, referring to his return to the series after 33 years away. “When we did Prometheus, it was a more genteel way of easing back into it.” He labelled Covenant as “a thinking man’s scary movie,” before saying, “it’s definitely an R, don’t show the kids. I decided I better nail this one, so I did.”
Set 15 years after Prometheus (and 18 years before the original film), Covenant features just one returning cast member from its predecessor; Michael Fassbender as the android David. Fassbender also plays Walter, a more advanced robot, and is joined by Katherine Waterson, Danny McBride, Jussie Smollet, and Billy Crudup. The crew of the titular ship stumble across David, a survivor from a previous run-in with the Xenomorphs, and join forces with him to battle an altered version of the creature.
“It’s the hardest thing to do,” said Scott of making people feel frightened at the movies. “Comedians will disagree, but I think it’s easier to make people laugh than to really, really scare the s— out of somebody. We’ve seen so ew much, we get a little bit numb to what should be scary. I’m not sure that’s a good thing.” He also addressed the complaints about Prometheus being too complicated and leaving too loose ends. ““All those things are answered: why and to what purpose they exist,” he said. “I’m scared about getting highbrow, but it raises questions of creationism and all that.”
Whilst critical reviews of Covenant decried the film for falling back on old habits, they were mostly satisfied with the scares on hand. Previously ‘Alien’ films had been far too grand, a far cry from the confined terror of the original. This one returned the series to its roots; one monster, a group of underdog victims; a single location far from safety. However, the film underperformed at the box office, which might explain why it took another seven years for the franchise to make a return.
That came in 2024 with the release of Alien: Romulus. Though Scott served as one of the producers on the project, directorial duties were handed over to Fede Álvarez. Romulus also received strong reviews and, crucially, was a much bigger success financially. According to Álvarez, Scott’s reaction to seeing the film was simple – “And then he walks into the room and he did say, ‘Fede, what can I say? It’s fucking great.”
