2017’s Life is underrated, but the upcoming Alien sequel Alien: Romulus makes a rewatch of the sci-fi horror perfectly timed. Sci-fi horror is a tricky blend to get right. For every hit like 1979’s Alien, there is a slew of lesser efforts like 1985’s Creature, 1981’s Galaxy of Terror, or the same year’s unintentionally hilarious Inseminoid. Although the Alien movies have sometimes managed to capture the perfect balance between sci-fi world-building and straightforward scares, not all of them have gotten this right. Luckily, 2024’s reboot Alien: Romulus looks set to fix this.

Director Fede Alvarez’s reboot promises to bring the franchise back to its roots. Like the original movie, Alien: Romulus’ claustrophobic plot follows a few helpless heroes as they are picked off by a lethal Xenomorph on an isolated spacecraft. This storyline sounds exciting precisely because it eschews all the unnecessary additions that made 2017’s Alien: Covenant and its predecessor, 2012’s Prometheus, feel overstuffed, talky, and overly self-serious. The year of the underwhelming prequel Alien: Covenant’s release was also home to another underrated sci-fi horror movie that shared Alien: Romulus’ admirable simplicity, along with some of the reboot’s plot elements.

2017’s Life Is Now Streaming On Netflix

Alien: Romulus And Life Share A Lot of Creative DNA

2017’s Life starred Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ryan Reynolds as astronauts who encounter an alien life form while deep in space. Their ship’s small crew dub the creature “Calvin” and initially marvel at its evolution, amazed to have discovered actual extraterrestrial life. Their wonder soon sours into horror when Calvin starts killing the crew viciously, proving to be as intelligent as it is deadly. While Alien: Romulus’s twists remain a mystery for now, the sequel seems set to borrow from Life’s successful playbook. Life takes its time establishing its characters, ensuring viewers care about them before Calvin arrives.

One shocking early death proves that Life is utterly unpredictable, leaving viewers with no idea who will make it until the ending. Life’s pitilessly cruel ending is more mean-spirited than anything in the Alien series, although it is reminiscent of Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez’s output. The twist shares the same twisted sense of black humor that can be seen in 2013’s Evil Dead reboot and 2016’s Don’t Breathe, both of which Alvarez directed. This ending is not the only similarity between the two movies. Life also boasts a small, limited cast, making its deaths more impactful.

Why Life Is The Perfect Sci-Fi Movie To Watch Ahead Of Alien: Romulus’ Release

Both Sci-Fi Horror Movies Prioritize Scares And Gore

Custom image by Simone Ashmoore

While Alien: Romulus’s Xenomorphs seem to be plentiful, the movie only has a small number of characters for the monsters to attack. Life’s small-scale nastiness felt like a breath of fresh air after Ridley Scott’s Alien prequels were more concerned with philosophical debates about science and faith than gore and horror. In much the same way, Alien: Romulus’s trailers promise horrific deaths aplenty much like the ironically titled Life. As such, there is no better time for viewers to go back and check out the underrated Life before Alien: Romulus’s Alien reboot borrows some of its best qualities.