Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem is the acid-blood-drenched follow up to 2004’s monstrous showdown. Directing siblings Colin and Greg Strause chat to David Grove about chest-bursting, bullwhips and the terrifying Pred-Alien hybrid.

What did you think of the original Alien Vs. Predator?

Colin Strause: Like most of the fans we weren’t crazy about the last film. It didn’t deliver enough suspense and tension, which I think are the key elements to making a good Alien Vs. Predator film. Requiem begins with the aftermath of the last film, where we see how the Aliens arrive back on earth, especially our Pred-Alien, along with a lone Predator warrior.

Greg Strause: AVP was actually, from a financial standpoint, the most profitable of all of the films - from either franchise. I think Fox was really wise, though, in realising that even though the last film was a financial success, the hardcore fans weren’t crazy about the film. We’re on the internet message boards all the time, keeping in touch with the fans, and the fans felt that AVP left them cold and unsatisfied. We’ve taken a whole different approach with this film.

Colin Strause: We feel the pressure to make up for the last film; to regain the fans’ trust.

AVP: Requiem looks a lot more gory than the original…

Colin Strause: Everyone saw the red-band trailer. How much more graphic could we be? The film is definitely a hard ‘R’ type of monster movie. There’s a kid in the film who gets a chest-burst, so we’re very confident that the film will satisfy the fans in terms of the gore and the effects, which is something that was kind of lacking from AVP.

Greg Strause: We didn’t consult or talk with Paul Anderson in the making of this film, in case you can’t tell. The film is very violent, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be non-stop action. We’ve got this tight little story about the Aliens invading this small little town in Colorado, and how the people in the town band together, with the help of a Predator, to fight the Aliens.

Our reference was everything in the history of these characters - from the films to the comic books to the video games. Aliens and Predator, which are our favorites in the series, were such great films because they had interesting human characters. That’s what we establish in the film, and then you see the violence and the gore - which is more effective because you care about the people in the town.

How do the Aliens and the Predator arrive back on earth?

Colin Strause: The story begins with the aftermath of AVP where you saw the Alien burst out of the Predator’s chest. There’s an Alien/Predator hybrid in the film who kills all of the Predators except one who follows the Pred-Alien down to earth…This lone Predator comes down to Earth to get revenge.

So the Predator is the ‘hero’ of the film?

Colin Strause: Yes, he’s the hero of the film in the sense that we follow his journey throughout the film as he tries to kill all of the Aliens, along with the humans in the small town.

Greg Strause: The Predator in the film is nicknamed ‘The Wolf’, after Harvey Keitel’s Winston Wolf character in Pulp Fiction. They both serve the same purpose in that they both mean business. He’s come to earth, to the town, to settle things.

Does the Predator have any new toys?

Colin Strause: Yes, we’ve gone back to the raw look the Predator warrior had in the 1987 film. We got rid of the armour from AVP because we thought, and the fans thought, it looked stupid. Why does he need armour? He didn’t need armour in Predator and if the Aliens get him, they get him. He has a real Spartan look in this film; covered with sores and battle scars. He has new weapons in the form of double shoulder cannons and various bombs.

Greg Strause: He also has bullwhip that’s totally new. It looks very organic, as if it was constructed out of Alien pieces. It has serrated edges and it whips around the Aliens and basically slices them to pieces, almost like a really powerful saw. The bullwhip was a concept that appeared in a drawing when we were trying to think of weapons to use, and I think it’s the best weapon in the film.

How would you describe Gunnison, Colorado, the film’s setting?

Colin Strause: It’s a small town that’s full of working class people. John Ortiz plays the local sheriff who’s a good man but doesn’t have the full confidence of the locals. His mettle is really tested in the film. He has something to prove. There’s a lot of relationships in the film - brother relationships, mother and child - that really heighten the tension. You want these people to survive, you care about them, as opposed to the last film...

Greg Strause: Reiko Aylesworth, from 24, is great in the film as well. She plays a mother who’s just returned from fighting in the war. You see her firing machine guns in the film. You could say she’s our Ripley.

Is the Pred-Alien more like an Alien than a Predator?

Colin Strause: Yes, the Pred-Alien kills a lot of Predators at the beginning of the film. There’s no Alien Queen in this film, so you could say that the Pred-Alien serves that purpose.

Greg Strause: The Pred-Alien has the same kind of head that you saw with the Alien Queen. Basically, the Pred-Alien is a hybrid but the Alien features are dominant. The Pred-Alien wants to kill and reproduce, very simple. It’s an Alien creature with Predator mandibles and the Predator’s dreadlocks and it has the Alien tail which is bigger than a normal Alien’s.

How would you describe the look of the Predator’s face in the movie?

Greg Strause: We wanted this Predator to look like a creature who’d been through lots of wars, been through hell; and that’s what he looks like. The Predator’s face is covered with Alien acid blood scars. Some other parts have been melted off. We really studied the past designs of the Predator when designing his look. We used parts of Predator 2, in terms of the fangs, and the comic books were a great source as well.

How would you describe the tone of the film?

Colin Strause: Intense. The tone changes from the first half of the film to the second half. There are moments that are very quiet, like in Alien and Predator, and then there’s moments that are full of action, where everything explodes, like in Aliens.

One Predator against an army of Aliens seems like a more suspenseful battle than an army of Aliens against an army of Predators.

Colin Strause: Exactly, because the Predators would kill all of the Aliens. The Aliens would do some damage, of course, but the Predators would kill them all because they’re such great warriors and their weapons are so good. That’s why the Pred-Alien is such a great monster.

Greg Strause: Having one Predator in the film really increases the suspense because we establish a connection between him, Wolf, and the people in the town. They need each other. If he gets killed, they’re all by themselves.

What would you like to see in any future AVP movies?

Colin Strause: One of the things we wanted to do with Requiem was to play by the rules in terms of following the timeline of the series. Our story, like AVP, is set a long time before 1979's Alien and it would seem like there’s a paradox there, but there’s not. We’ve followed the timeline to the letter, and it’ll make sense when you see the film in terms of how it relates to Alien. Given that the events of Alien are still a long time away, there’s room to do lots of interesting stories.

You could do more films that take place before the events of Alien or you could do films that take place after Alien and before Aliens. We have a cliffhanger in our film that leaves the door open in a very interesting way for more movies.

Greg Strause: I think space is the next logical place to set another film, and I think if we made another film in the series, that’s definitely where we’d set the story.

Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem is currently on general release in the US and opens in the UK on Friday 18 January 2008.