Why ‘Romulus’ is a good first ‘Alien’ for the franchise rookies

Older generations of film fans were raised on the “Alien” movies, first in the theater and later via VHS and DVD. The kids and young adults of today? Outside of a Xenomorph dancing on TikTok, they might have no reference for the sci-fi horror franchise.

Those are the moviegoers that 46-year-old co-writer/director Fede Alvarez says he “always” kept in mind when making the latest installment, “Alien: Romulus” (in theaters Friday). “I want to make sure that there’s no moment where the young audience goes: ‘OK, I’m lost. I don’t understand what you’re doing.’ ”

With a cast of rising Hollywood stars including Cailee Spaeny (“Civil War”), David Jonsson (“Rye Lane”) and Isabela Merced (“Turtles All the Way Down”), “Romulus” introduces a crew of 20-something explorers wanting to leave their mining colony who plunder a decommissioned space station and run afoul of Facehuggers, Chestbursters and, of course, Xenomorphs. Alvarez promises there’s no required viewing, but the film definitely pays homage to the suffocating terror of Ridley Scott’s 1979 “Alien” and action-ready nature of James Cameron’s 1986 sequel “Aliens.”