in fright

And that is what we have in “Alien: Romulus” – a good time that drives like it’s on rails but slows down the action to steep us in fright.

Kitty Green’s follow-up to the taut drama “The Assistant” is a feminist riff on the ’70s classic “Wake in Fright,” in which two Canadian tourists who have run out of money in Australia take on a gig as bartenders at a grimy watering hole in the middle of nowhere.

When the two of them clamber down into the dry pool basin for a box-wine picnic; when Liv gets sloppy drunk on her birthday; when Hanna, shocked sober by the sound of Dolly’s footsteps outside, turns the flimsy lock in fright — every nerve screams: Don’t you know not to get yourself into something you can’t easily get out of?

The biggest references were “Wake in Fright,” clearly because of the pub culture there.

I’ve heard you mention “Wake in Fright” as an obvious touchstone for “Royal Hotel.”