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“The origin story of the Predator in the world of the Comanche Nation 300 years ago. Naru, a skilled female warrior, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth.”

Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Writers: Patrick Alson
Staring: Amber Midthunder, Dane DiLiegro, Stegany Mathias, Stormee Kipp, Dakota Beavers
Release Date: August 5, 2022

All about the hype train!! We get our first full look at Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey (2022).

I love that Prey is going backwards. It is going to the roots of the 1987 original; one warrior who is strong and brave enough to take on the alien predator. There are a horde of warriors who think they are worthy of the hunt, but when it comes down to it, there is only one who is willing to face-off in a mono-et-mono showdown.

Naru (Amber Midthunder) is eager to prove herself in the field of battle. She wants to take on the tests that the Great Plains environment doles out. She immediately goes up against a Black Bear…which seems like a VERY bold strategy. She is hiding in a beaver damn from a bear that she antagonized, but she is saved by…something. The predator has entered the chat.

Naru is humbled in her hunting ability, but that only invigorates her more to prove herself. She tries to explain herself to her tribe, but no one seems to fully believe that something new and dangerous is in the woods.

“I am trying to protect you.”

“Protect me from what?”

Naru trying to warn her tribe of the danger lurking out in the Plains

Trachtenberg plays homage to the original with a shot up into a tree. Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Sonny Landham (Billy) has the same look that Naru has; the why do I feel like someone is watching me when I can’t see anything.

Let’s give a massive shoutout to the marketing team for some great verbiage: They Hunt To Live. It Lives To Hunt. That just tickles my fun bone.

This latest version of Prey expands what we learned from the first teaser, showing the entire tribe and Naru on the hunt, and also some random colonist. It would appear like The Predator is not only terrorizing the Comanche warriors, but also those who are terrorizing the Native Americans themselves. I kinda hope there is isn’t a team-up between anyone to take down one force; I want it to be every race for themselves with a survival of the fittest.

With this being a prequel to Predator, taking place nearly 300 years before the original, I think we are going to bet a more animalistic version of the alien. There are a few snippets of it leaping like a jaguar, whether it be on the ground or up in the trees. It is going to be a challenge like in the Halo video games to expand the lore of the franchise while also decreasing the technology and weapons system, but based off the alien shield we also see, I have having more and more faith instilled in Prey.

I am willing to hand the reins of my hope over to Dan Trachtenberg. His experience with 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) should help him with Prey because all of the terror he generated was based off of aliens that the audience didn’t see (for the majority of the time). Predator uses invisibility to his advance and is a master of camouflage; he is going to be an invisible and so that stress and anxiety can be connected.

Might I also mention the new movie poster which features the green blood of The Predator smeared over Naru’s face…like the mud was over Dutch’s in 1987.

Prey begins its prowl on Hulu on August 5, 2022.

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