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If you have been to the cinema recently, you may have noticed – or even bought – one of those popcorn buckets that are used to advertise the year’s big blockbusters. Perhaps you have plunged into the gaping maw of a Dune – Part Two Sandworm – or, more recently, into the hollowed-out head of Deadpool or Wolverine.

Now there are at least two popcorn bucket models advertising the new film Alien: RomulusOne is shaped like the head of a Xenomorph, the most terrifying of all horror movie demons, though presumably without the drooling, retractable tongue. Attached to another bucket is a Facehugger, a scurrying creature known for its fondness for attaching itself to a person’s head and laying an egg down their neck.

These gimmicks at the food stalls may be new, but the iconography of Alien: Romulus could hardly be better known. This is no surprise; these monsters, brilliantly conceived decades ago by Swiss artist HR Giger, have kept this series alive. In recent years, Ridley Scott, the director of the 1979 Incorrigible Foreignerhas tried to take the franchise in a more philosophical direction, in films like Prometheus And Alien: Covenant. In contrast to Alien: Romulusdirected and co-written by Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez, doesn’t have such grand ambitions. It’s an efficient and reasonably entertaining thriller that, like many franchise films these days, relies more on nostalgia than novelty.

Álvarez has set himself a big goal: He wants to take us back to the glory days of the franchise. The story takes place in the year 2142 and is embedded between the events of the first Foreigner and James Cameron’s highly entertaining sequel from 1986, Aliens. As in those films starring the incomparable Sigourney Weaver, there is a tenacious female protagonist. Her name is Rain and she is played by Cailee Spaeny, the versatile young actress from Priscilla And Civil War. There’s also a friendly, not entirely reliable android sidekick – Andy, played by English actor David Jonsson. We’re in a time that could be described as late capitalism, where rogue corporations rule the rogue world and Rain, like most people her age, is part of a heavily exploited working class, working off debts she’ll never pay back.

20th Century Studios

When she and Andy hear of a possible way out, they, along with a few friends, jump at the opportunity – even though it means heading into space and boarding a large, rusted ship that isn’t quite as abandoned as it seems. The ship is made up of two sections, Remus and Romulus, which partly explains the Roman mythology-referencing title. As for what lurks aboard the ship, Álvarez knows there’s no point in building mystery or suspense, and he unleashes his army of Facehuggers and Xenomorphs almost immediately. His human characters, however, are intent on fighting.

Álvarez has a talent for rebooting horror films. He made his debut in 2013 with a fresh spin on evil Dead. This was followed by the thriller “Walking on Eggshells” Don’t breatheabout a group of young burglars who try to rob a blind homeowner. There are actually some amusing similarities between this film and Alien: Romulusup to a twist in the third act that pushes the whole thing into the category of body horror that you have to see to believe.

Álvarez is a strong action director and plays on classic Foreigner beats. The Xenomorphs, as usual, have corrosive acid for blood – a detail the film cleverly exploits in a tense, gravity-defying set piece. And there is at least one memorable moment that reminds us that the Xenomorphs, with their phallic heads and sticky secretions, are some of cinema’s most psychosexual nightmares.

Ultimately, however, Álvarez’s talents do not take him very far. The problem is not just that the characters, apart from Rain and Andy, are pretty boring monster fodder. It is that the director seems to be happy with the Foreigner films – with young, fresh faces and cutting-edge technology – he seems to have no idea how to move them forward. His boldest and least successful move is resurrecting a key character from an earlier film – a visual effects coup that tries to honor the series’ roots but feels more like a desecration. I will never Foreigner film, but I hope the next one offers more than just elaborate fan service. Dwelling too much on the past is no guarantee for a franchise’s future.