Prey director describes new Predator movie as a scary, epic mash-up of adventure and suspense

Last Updated on June 14, 2022

There’s a new entry in the Predator franchise coming to the Hulu streaming service on August 5th, Prey, and director Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) says the fact that the movie was being made for a streamer didn’t cause them to pull back the scope of the story at all. Speaking with Collider, Trachtenberg even described the film as epic – and said it’s scarier than some of the other Predator movies.

Asked if Prey not having a “huge budget” allowed for more creative freedom, Trachtenberg said,

It started out at 20th (Century Fox), and then, after the (Disney) merger, Hulu became the release platform. It was never a situation of, because it’s streaming, it has a streaming movie budget. It has a very economical budget. Certainly not as big as the last one, but I think we had all the money we needed to make the movie as grand as it needed to be. This is an epic movie. What was so exciting about the original Predator was that it was a genre mash-up of action and horror. This movie, I think, is scarier than they have been for a while, but in my mind, it’s a mash-up of adventure and suspense. It’s a grand, sweeping, epic movie, that is being gifted to people to watch on their televisions. Hopefully, there likely will be some potential theatrical experiences for some people to get to.”

The director also commented on the Predator featured in Prey being somewhat different than ones we’ve seen before. Starting with the look of the creature:

I really wanted to get out of the bodybuilder/wrestler thing. The first thing to go was the mesh netting that he, or it, has worn previously. I wanted to have this thing feel much more creature-like and way more visceral.”

Since Prey is set in 1719, Trachtenberg said it was “tricky” figuring out a way to present a Predator that’s 300 years less advanced than the ones we’ve seen in previous movies, and yet more advanced than the humans it will be facing off with. He said fans of the Predator franchise can expect to see “some familiar gadgets and some familiar weapons” in the movie, but “also a lot of new things” that he promises are “super cool”.

Scripted by Patrick Aison (Jack Ryan), the film has the following synopsis:

Set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago, Prey is the story of a young woman, Naru, a fierce and highly skilled warrior. She has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains, so when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people. The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries.

A press release notes that “Prey will be available on Hulu entirely in Comanche as a language option, or with Comanche subtitles, which is the first time a feature-length movie on a direct-to-consumer streaming platform has been available in the Comanche language in its entirety.”

John Davis produced Prey with Marty Ewing and Jhane Myers, who is a Native Comanche. Lawrence Gordon, Ben Rosenblatt, James E. Thomas, John C. Thomas, and Marc Toberoff served as executive producers.

Amber Midthunder (Roswell, New Mexico) stars alongside Dakota Beavers of the band WesternBoy, Stormee Kipp (Sooyii), Michelle Thrush (The Journey Home), Julian Black Antelope (Tribal), Cody Big Tobacco (The Revenant), Skye Pelletier (Burden of Truth), Tymon Carter (The Emigrants), and Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat (Shoresy), with Dane DiLiegro (American Horror Stories), a 6’9″ former basketball player who has experience working in creature suits, as the Predator.

Are you looking forward to Prey and how did you feel about the director’s description? Let us know by leaving a comment below.