Alien: Romulus Has a Killer Alien: Isolation Easter Egg

Alien: Romulus there’s a lot to prove when it comes to drawing on the work of a sci-fi franchise to produce a film worth making. Fortunately, director Fede Alvarez seems to have done his homework and added credit from the video game series that hit in 2014.

In an interview with GamesRadar+, Alvarez revealed that gameplay Alien: Isolation while recording Don’t breathe inspired him to make a horror film as scary as the first space horror game.

“Alien: Isolation it was the kind that made me realize that Alien it can be really scary and done well [today],” Alvarez told GamesRadar+. “That’s why, at the time, I was like, ‘Fuck, if I can do anything, I’d like to do it. Alien and frighten the audience and thereby create those places.’ I was playing, and I saw how dangerous it is Alien it’s possible if you put it back in that word.”

Alvarez wasn’t just motivated Alien: Isolation‘s tone, he also raised game references to create suspense and fear for moviegoers. As GamesRadar+ notes, Alien: Isolation It has non-secure backup points in the form of an emergency call. Instead of providing players with a safe harbor to panic-save their progress, players are greeted with a very slow runtime on the phone, leaving them vulnerable to surprise Xenomorph attacks. In layman’s terms, whenever phones appear Alien: Isolationthe players sit forward in their seats for fear of something bad happening to their real self.

“The film is planned in a way [that] every time something bad is going to happen, you will see the phone,” said Alvarez. “In the game, every time you knew there was a phone you were like, ‘Fuck, I’m about to go into a bad episode.’ It’s the same thing here. You will see that they are planted systematically throughout the film. When you see a phone, it’s like: power up.”

If Alien: Romulus‘ initial reaction is something to go for, Alvarez knocks it out of the park by playing a series of songs while also infusing his creativity with terrific results—and the player’s knowledge, to boot. Alien: Romulus opens August 16.

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