When sound designer Johnnie Burn first learned he'd be collaborating with director Yorgos Lanthimos for a sixth time, he had just one hope: make it a sci-fi film or a musical.

In space, no one can hear you scream, but they can sure hear you scratching your head as you try to make sense of the sprawling “Alien” universe. While Ridley Scott’s 1979 haunted-house-in-the-cosmos ...