While churches are great places to confess, so too are cinemas. During the media screening of Alien: Romulus I came clean that, to my shame, I hadn’t seen any of the Alien movies. I was soundly and deservedly rebuked by my movie watching companions. But it means that I come to this new entry in the franchise with no real expectations or experience except for a handful of Alien pop cultural references that I’ve picked up along the way. A bona fide sci-fi epic that will enthrall and terrify in equal measures, Alien Romulus is a popcorn blockbuster that requires being watched on the biggest screen you can possibly find.

Alien: Romulus takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.

As an Alien novice, there wasn’t any chunks of the story that made me feel like I was missing something narratively from the previous instalments. Alien: Romulus is fairly self contained, without it feeling like it was made just to set up upcoming films.

It clips along at a pretty quick pace, throwing you deep within the gory action not before setting us up with a new raft of characters. Director Fede Álvarez does an astonishing job in not only establishing a connection between the characters and the audience with speed, but at creating a stunning aesthetic too.

I don’t think that you’ll see a more beautiful and realized world in a big, epic film this year. It’s stark and stripped back in the mining colony on one hand and then we are suddenly immersed into the silent depths of outer space on the other. Magnificent.

While there are a few jump scares that you can see a mile off, the action is blood drenched, grab your arm rest horrific in places. Again, Alvarez crafts a pace throughout the film that builds to the glorious and gory crescendo that is the final act.

Cailee Spaeny proves once again why she is an actress with an incredible career ahead, anchoring the film emotionally and throughout the action sequences. But David Jonsson is the real star of the show bringing a humanity to his character that is surprising as it is magnificent.

A bona fide sci-fi epic that will enthrall and terrify in equal measures, Alien Romulus is a popcorn blockbuster that requires being watched on the biggest screen you can possibly find.