The Predator franchise has walked some challenging roads since 1990, with many fans arguing that Predator 2 was the last good movie. Since then, the films in the franchise have been trying to resurrect a style of film that was only popular in the ’80s and ’90s. The original Predator was a big action film that featured a macho man actor that sweated his way through huge fiery explosions and wanton destruction. But the traditional action movie of the ’80s has become a bygone genre seen preserved only in films like The Expendables.

Now, fans are anticipating the newest franchise film, Prey, which comes out on Hulu on August 5, 2022. If this Predator prequel expects to play in today’s movie climate, it will have to be more than a bloody hunt through a jungle; though we do hope a bloody hunt is still part of the movie. That being said, Prey is already shaping up to be more than just your typical action movie, despite the small amount of footage we’ve seen from it. Set in pre-colonial America, the film features an almost entirely native cast. And the producers seem to be intent on finding that elemental thing that made the original Predator movie work. So, if the filmmakers have been smart enough to learn from previous mistakes, this may be the best Predator movie yet.

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The Setting for Prey is Significant

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Prey is set in the Great Plains of America in the 18th century. The trailer shows us very little, but we see a Comanche girl running panicked through a forest and into an open field, only to be caught by a hunter, presumably of her tribe. The Comanche hunter pulls back their bowstring as they wait in the tall grass. There is a frightened look on the girl’s face as we see the familiar three red dots of the Predator’s sight appear on the hunter’s forehead.

Though we only got 30 seconds of footage, we know our story revolves around the Comanche people being hunted by this alien life form. The fact that the movie is set in the 1700s harkens back to the end of Predator 2 when an elder Predator gives Harrigan (Danny Glover) a flintlock pistol from 1715. This was the first time we saw evidence that the Predator species had been using Earth as a hunting ground for such a long time. Now, in the prequel, we get to journey back and see how these conflicts unfolded.

Perhaps the film’s title implies that its mood will focus more on the feeling of being hunted. Maybe instead of the explosions and special effects, what we will get from this movie is the genuine fear of being helpless in the face of a powerful enemy and the adrenalin that comes with the resolve to survive such an encounter. Maybe this film will show us how Indigenous people felt when Europeans began seizing their land.

Prey and the Thrill of the Hunt

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According to the official synopsis, Prey will follow a similar structure to the original Predator movie:

An impressive protagonist is threatened when a Predator begins hunting her people, which leads to the inevitable “hunt or be hunted” storyline. It’s an old tale, given to us when Richard Connell wrote his short story The Most Dangerous Game, in which a wealthy man hunts other humans for sport. Of course, this movie will be a tad different. As it’s directed by Dan Trachtenberg, perhaps he will bring some of that fear one gets from not knowing what’s going on as he brought in his directorial debut, 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Producer John Davis said this about Prey in an interview with Collider:

So it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the nature of a lone survivor might take center stage in this movie. Davis seems proud that what he created will take breath as its own individual film in the Predator universe. And hopefully, this will lead to a truly unique movie that can reinvigorate fans for the thrill of the hunt.