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There’s a satisfying back-to-basics ethos to “Alien: Romulus,” the latest addition to the long-running series of extraterrestrial horror. Unlike the recent prequels “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” which were bogged down in backstory and tortured mythology, “Romulus” focuses on what worked about the 1979 classic: slasher-style terror, with an unstoppable monster.

This tactic is so successful that “Romulus” only sags when it tries to connect to the greater mythology. But long before that, we meet a crew of hard-luck survivors working on the mines of a dying planet. They have a scheme to loot an abandoned spacecraft and escape — but, as anyone familiar with this franchise knows, drifting spaceships often hide unimaginable terrors.

We’re taking this Charonic journey with Rain (Cailee Spaeny), desperate to flee indentured servitude alongside Andy (David Jonsson), a malfunctioning android programmed to protect her. The rest of their ragtag crew is certainly set up to be cannon fodder for creatures large and small, but they’re given enough personality differences to at least make sure you know who’s who as they’re being obliterated.

A notable misstep comes in the form of a half-destroyed android with a familiar face. Aboard the ailing ship, they encounter a robot whose face matches that of the character Ash, who caused problems and was thoroughly destroyed in the first “Alien.” This character isn’t exactly Ash — he’s a similar android named Rook — but he has the face and voice of Ian Holm, even though Holm has been dead for four years. (Another actor, Daniel Betts, is credited; Holm’s face and voice were digitally imposed on top of Betts’ performance.)

It’s another sad example of a deceased actor being placed in a movie without the ability to consent or be compensated for their work, and it’s truly unnecessary given the story’s circumstances. It also drags the plot down, as a story more completely detached from the original would’ve been tighter and more satisfying; Rook’s intrusions do little but slow down the proceedings.

That, however, is the only major drawback. Director Fede Álvarez, a horror specialist known for “Don’t Breathe” and the serviceable “Evil Dead” remake, crafts dozens of moments of terror, from creeping to screaming. While nothing can touch the near-perfect original film, “Romulus” comes closer than any of the other sequels to embodying the classic film’s persistent feeling of shock and awe.

My Rating: 8/10

“Alien: Romulus” is now playing in theaters.