Like all of its predecessors in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus is full of squishy, splatty, and generally horrid bits of sound. It’s a key part of the cinematic experience that makes the new horror movie a throwback delight – and perhaps the only thing gnarlier or grosser than the xenomorph action on screen are the details about how the various nasty noises were created behind the scenes.
Perfectly timed for spooky season, Los Angeles’ Beyond Fest hosted a special Alien/Alien: Romulus double feature earlier this month, and the big screen twin bill was followed by a special filmmaker Q&A. Many interesting secrets about the new horror movie were revealed – like how the science officer android Rook was created – sound designer/supervising sound editor Lee Gilmore contributed to the conversation talking about the auditory experience of Alien: Romulus. First referencing the horrific birth scene in the third act of the film featuring Isabella Merced (who was also on the panel), Gilmore said,
It’s actually me throwing up, when [Kay] finally [gives birth]… [That sound] is locked and loaded. We went to Ralphs and went up to the meat department and just asked like, ‘Are you throwing out any meat?’ And they gave me like a 15 pound bag of like meat bits, and I have no idea what it was. It was just all in this one sack together. So we bought that, got a couple crabs, lobsters, that kind of stuff… It still smells really bad in my office.
Lee Gilmore and the sound department on Alien: Romulus took that rotting meat and seafood and manipulated it in a specific way to create the soundscape of an extraterrestrial horror set hundreds of years in the future. Movie magic at its finest!
As stated by Gilmore, it was a specific goal of the Alien: Romulus filmmakers to make the vilest noises that they could produce, and it inspired a lot of creativity. The team had to create sounds for original elements being added to the continuity – like the cocoon that the xenomorph develops in after its birth – but they also put their own spin on classic elements of the franchise. Gilmore continued,
We just like went to town making stuff as gross as possible. And then that was all for like the chestburster and I don’t know what the technical term is, but at work we call it the space vag. We just tried to keep it super, super gross. Like Navarro, when the chestburster comes out, all that rib cage stuff, I had a tree that fell down in my backyard, and so that’s a lot of me twisting the roots and stuff.
With a smile, Lee Gilmore added that his goal in the making of Alien: Romulus was the antithesis of “make your parents proud.” He concluded,
We just try to get super creative and super gross, and my goal was, ‘How can I make this so gross that my mom’s going to be disappointed in me?’
Alien: Romulus completed its theatrical run earlier this month after its box office debut back in mid-August, but that means it has now hit the second stage of distribution: premium digital release. The sci-fi horror film is perfect for Halloween viewing, and you can now rent or purchase it from online outlets including Prime Video, Google Play, Fandango At Home and Apple.