Another extra-terrestrial journey

DARK AND DANGEROUS: A NEW AND FRIGHTENING WORLD Remake takes the original’s horror to another level.

Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking original came out in 1979 with John Hurt and Sigourney Weaver setting the tone of a horror flick in space where nobody could hear you scream.

Over the decades there have been a slew of bad imitations, but now the 79-year-old master filmmaker has returned to the genre and has produced one of the best I’ve seen; a Gothic horror story that is overwhelmingly dark, primal and with terror-filled images that remain long after the story has been told.

A creepy prologue reintroduces the android David (Michael Fassbender) who was a member of the ship Prometheus, talking to his creator Weyland (Guy Pearce) about a famous work of art, the Nativity, on the wall.

Then the narrative moves ahead to the colony ship Covenant bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy. Led by its captain Oram (Billy Crudup), the crew suddenly discover what they think is an unchartered paradise, but is actually a dark and dangerous world.

The android David appears to be a member of this crew - except it’s actually Walter (Fassbender again), a newer, safer model whose programming has been stripped of the wild impulses that made the unpredictable David such an unnerving wild card. Fassbender makes these two characters scary entities and when they land on the new planet they also discover the remains of the ship Prometheus and the “synthetic” David, its sole survivor.

And what has David been up to during this period? The devil certainly finds work for idle hands and what occurs on this planet will scare viewers witless as director Scott undertakes another perverse and perilous journey into the unknown.

The human crew on the Covenant includes Daniels (Katherine Waterston), a cautious pragmatist who is a far cry from the gung-ho Ellen Ripley, and Tennessee (Danny McBride), the brash and convivial chief pilot.

Liberally blending science fiction with horror, Scott has created a dynamic work of Gothic menace. The full implications of the final scenes played out in a

Frankenstein-type laboratory, is a nauseating spectacle. Shock moments are placed with exquisite skill and timing.

I expect this Covenant’s journey does not end here!