It is one thing to see a tentacled-eyeball alien that consists of even more eyeballs launch out of a cat’s skull, but it is much worse to listen to. When you are squeamish (as I am), people often tell you to cope with that unfortunate fact of life by covering your eyes or looking down (a strategy that left me staring at the ground for a solid 25 minutes of Alex Garland’s Warfare earlier this year). Unfortunately, averting my gaze does very little when it comes to the violence — of which there is plenty — in Alien: Earth , because Alien: Earth is far worse to listen to than it is to look at. And it’s already pretty gnarly to look at.

Meticulous sound design has been inherent to the Alien franchise since its inception: The clicking jaw and sharp talons enrich the nightmarish qua

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