FIRST there was Alien, a stone cold Ridley Scott classic. Next came Aliens, a multiplier in every sense from a pre-Titanic James Cameron. Visceral, exciting, terrifying. That was 1986.

There have been a further five films in the Alien franchise since then, not to mention two bombastically rubbish crossovers with the Predator series. Not one has lived up to the original two.

Following 2012’s Prometheus and 2017’s Alien Covenant, Hollywood’s latest attempt at revitalising the series comes, this week, at the hand of Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe director Fede Álvarez. The first in the series to be produced by a Disney owned 20th Century Fox, Alien: Romulus takes things back to basics. Sure enough, it’s set between the first and second films - almost as though everything from Alien 3 onward never happened. Imagine that.

Priscilla star Cailee Spaeny heads up a fresh faced new cast of canon fodder, with Archie Renaux, Spike Fern and Rye Lane’s David Jonsson representing a British-heavy ensemble. Isabela Merced, formerly of Dora the Explorer fame, and Aileen Wu feature too in a race not to be the first to meet a grisly Xenomorphic offing.

The sextet team up to play a ragtag group of space colonists, whose attempt to scalp an abandoned - and all too familiar - space station goes very wrong when they uncover the most terrifying of alien life forms.

Much as treading old ground can risk familiarity, Alien: Romulus benefits from a return to the style and atmosphere of the original and its first sequel. Álvarez’s film takes the claustrophobia of Scott’s Alien and blends it with the faster and more furious pace of Cameron’s Aliens. In Spaeny’s Rain Carradine, meanwhile, Romulus recalls the emotive watchability of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley.

The most promising seal of approval here comes courtesy of Scott himself, who produces here. A staunch critic of virtually all Alien action since his 1979 original - give or take his own contributions - Scott has not merely served up ample praise for Álvarez but been vocal in encouraging the director to return for a second round.

Regardless of Romulus’ fate, all indications point to a long future for the franchise itself. Much like the xenomorph parasite at its heart, Alien is a franchise that simply refuses to die quietly. For better or worse, you can decide.