PREY

(director/writer: Dan Trachtenberg; screenwriters: story by Patrick Aison & Trachtenberg, characters by Jim and John Thomas; cinematographer: Jeff Cutter; editors: Claudia Castello, Angela M. Catanzaro; music: Sarah Schachner; cast: Amber Midthunder (Naru), Dakota Beavers (Taabe), Dane DiLiegro (Predator), Stormee Kipp (Wasape), Michelle Thrush (Aruka), Julian Black Antelope (Chief Kehetu), Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat (Itsee), Geronimo Vela (Comanche Warrior), Stefany Mathias (Sumu-chief’s wife), Mike Paterson (Big Beard); Runtime: 99; MPAA Rating: R; producers: John Davis, Marty Ewing, Jhane Myers; 20th Century Studios/Hulu; 2022)

“Has a good message that gender doesn’t matter when it comes to competence.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A fast paced horror film that has a good message that gender doesn’t matter when it comes to competence, but its execution is weak. It’s directed and written by Dan Trachtenberg (“10 Cloverfield Lane”/”Predator: Killer of Killers”). The Predator sequel is based on a story by the director and Patrick Aison.

Naru (Amber Midthunder) is a young Comanche woman in 1719, who lives on tribal grounds in the Northern Great Plains as a homebody. She’s not believed when she reports there’s a predator on the grounds, as the tribe thinks she’s not fit to be a hunter. Her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers) is the best hunter in the tribe, and he concurs. 

This doesn’t stop her from going into the woods with her dog and watching an alien in dreadlocks, with an ability to become almost invisible, take on a huge bear and other animals. She eventually will be helped in her fight with the Predator (Dane DiLiegro) by her brother.

Amber makes for a feisty heroine, and the film is better than its other franchise films. And, to its credit, the ensemble cast consists almost entirely of Indigenous performers. But I was still underwhelmed.

REVIEWED ON 6/26/2025  GRADE: C+
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