An Iconic Sci-Fi Horror Franchise Returned 4 Years Ago Today With A 10/10 Masterpiece That Went Straight to Streaming

One sci-fi horror franchise reboot managed to salvage an iconic franchise plagued by terrible reboots and sequels, even though the superb outing still went straight to streaming. If the critical failure of Scream 7 proves anything, it is that no horror franchise can maintain its popularity forever. While the first Alien sequel, Aliens, was a masterpiece, 1992’s Alien 3 was incredibly divisive, 1997’s Alien: Resurrection was equally controversial, and even Ridley Scott’s later prequels, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, still couldn’t recapture the universal acclaim of the first two films in the series.

Similarly, the Predator franchise never quite nailed its formula after the original cult classic was released in theatres in 1987. An Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle that pitted the star against the titular alien trophy hunter in a sweaty South American jungle, Predator was a unique genre blend. Gory and suspenseful enough to be a full-blown horror, action-packed enough to work as an action thriller, and full of enough firepower to also function as a war movie, Predator was a unique beast. Its sequels, reboots, and spinoffs struggled to recapture this balance, until 2022’s unexpectedly amazing Prey.

Predator’s Prequel Prey Had Its Streaming Premiere On August 5 2022

Directed by 10 Cloverfield Lane’s Dan Trachtenberg, Prey was a Predator prequel with a difference. The main change was its setting, namely the Northern Great Plains circa 1719. There, Amber Midthunder’s heroine Naru fought the Predator with less technological support than Schwarzenegger’s Dutch could have imagined. This time shift meant that, while the heroes of Predator had heavy-duty weaponry to rely on, Naru needed to defeat the Predator with her wits and hunting prowess alone.

To say that Prey was a success would be a massive understatement. Like a lot of classic Schwarzenegger sci-fi movies, the original Predator relied on the strongman’s hulking physique to level the playing field between him and his extraterrestrial attacker, so seeing Naru go up against the same monster centuries earlier without a bodybuilder’s bulk and no arsenal of weaponry was unbelievably tense.

Prey also managed the tricky job of making the franchise’s monster more complex and multifaceted than ever, presenting the Predator as not just an existential threat, but also a thoughtful, intelligent being in contrast with the Alien franchise’s bloodthirsty Xenomorphs. Few could have predicted that Trachtenberg’s next theatrical Predator movie, 2025’s Predator: Badlands, would turn the Predator into an outright hero, but the groundwork for humanising the monster was subtly set up in Prey.

Prey Proved The Predator Franchise Can Still Surprise Viewers

While few of Schwarzenegger’s other sci-fi movies had the staying power of the original Predator, to be fair to the star, none of its earlier sequels lived up to the original movie, either. 1990’s Predator II was a weird mishmash of futuristic crime thrills and gory horror that felt too indebted to Robocop, while 2010’s Predators squandered its interesting alien planet setting on an otherwise conventional sci-fi horror chase movie.

The less said about the execrable Alien Vs Predator spinoff movies, the better. Meanwhile, although 2018’s The Predator had an impressive cast and brought in the action cinema legend Shane Black as its director, that drab reboot still couldn’t reignite interest in the franchise. As such, it was only the 2022 streaming success of Prey’s thrilling new take on the Predator series that revived the franchise for the 21st century.