After the release of Prey (2022), I had to re-examine everything I thought about the Predator franchise and its various films. Director Dan Trachtenberg opened up a bold new door to where the franchise can go, and now he’s picking up that baton and turning it into an all-out relay race with the new animated film, Predator: Killer of Killers, now streaming on Hulu. With Killer of Killers, Trachtenberg (and co-director Joshua Wassung) continues an impressive run of franchise and lore expansion by looking at the tales of three very different warriors and their encounters with the Yautja race (Predators), leading to an epic twist finale.
The debate about where Prey ranks amongst the other Predator movies was simple: it was the best film we’d seen since the original Predator movie was released in 1987. However, Killer of Killers is going to force a more nuanced ranking debate. For one thing, it’s the only animated entry in the franchise, which could vastly influence whether or not some fans watch it. That part aside, we’ve re-examined franchise and are confident in our new rankings.
Related – Predator: Killer of Killers Review
This list ranks all six movies in the main Predator franchise (Predator, Predator 2, Predators, The Predator, Prey, Killer of Killers), as well as the two AvP crossover entries, which both feature the Yautja as central characters (AvP, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem). ranked in order, worst to best.
Where did your favorite film end up? Find out below!
8) Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem is at the bottom of the rankings and likely always will be. It’s nearly impossible to imagine the franchise getting worse than what we saw in this 2007 crossover sequel, which was a flop both creatively and commercially. Granted, the Alien and Predator franchises were both already in a desperate place during the first mashup film; AVP: R was supposed to be a corrective measure from the missteps of AVP. Instead, it just made everything much, much, worse.
The exalted “R-rated” version of Aliens vs. Predator instead resulted in extreme gore and horror, all of which could barely be seen, thanks to terrible lighting and visuals from the directors, “Brothers Strause.” AVP: R even ruined one of the coolest concepts in both franchises: the Yautja-xenomorph hybrid known as the “PredAlien.” Thankfully, both franchises have since bounced back, but Requiem will forever be a stain on them both.
7) The Predator
Shane Black’s The Predator (2018) tried to bring the franchise into modern times and further expand lore hinted at in earlier installments, introducing a bio-engineered new form of “Ultimate Predator,” as well as some Predator-killing armor gifted to humanity. Despite all that new world-building, The Predator is probably the most forgettable of the Predator movies on this list, which is even more disappointing considering that Shane Black was one of the actors/co-writers of the original film, and remains a sharp talent (see: The Nice Guys). Like Predators, an odd group of actors was pulled together for this ensemble, and never really achieved anything more than being generic military/science/espionage types. A subplot about a neurodivergent savant child remains the oddest plot choice in these movies, which is really saying something.
6) AVP
Hearing that the Alien and Predator franchises were crossing over was every sci-fi/horror geek’s dream in the early 2000s; however, that dream quickly soured with news that the studio and director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil) were going to do a PG-13 version. Still, AVP has its charms – such as Sanaa Lathan in the lead role, a wonderfully twisted setting, and some exciting ‘Predator vs. xenomorph’ fights. For being a cash-grab attempt to rekindle two stalled franchises, the lore that AVP introduced was surprisingly interesting.
5) Predators
Predators was the franchise’s big hope to reboot itself for the 2010s and erase all memory of the AVP movies. It was made on a modest budget of $40 million and took in a respectable $127 million worldwide. However, the odd ensemble cast failed to connect with audiences, as quality performers like multi-Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins, or Alice Braga were turned into one-note action movie cliches. Similarly, multi-Oscar-winner Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) never convinced audiences he had action hero charisma, certainly not at the Schwarzenegger level.
Predators is lukewarm action/horror entertainment, but is still enjoyable as it ages, especially when it comes to the designs of different Yautja races and the hunting preserve world.
4) Predator 2
Predator 2 is pure 1990s gritty action movie nostalgia, that just so happens to have a Predator in it. The sequel established the anthology nature of the franchise, moving from the jungles to a vision of “near-future” Los Angeles (1997!), which is depicted as a gang-war hellhole with skyrocketing temperatures. Total fiction, right?
Predator 2 wasn’t a major success initially, but has since become the cult-classic hit of the franchise. A lot of that late love comes from director Stephen Hopkins’ slick ’90s aesthetic, putting the era’s fashion and music at the forefront. The performances (Danny Glover, Bill Paxton, Ruben Blades, Gary Busey) and some awesome urban combat/kill sequences with The Predator (subway sequence) made this a very different sequel that still honored the spirit of the original.
Finally, the sequel’s epilogue, in which a clan of Predators rewards Glover’s character for his “win” in combat with an ancient relic, started to build much bigger lore about the Predator race and their contact(s) with Earth.
3) Predator: Killer of Killers
Building off the success of Prey is Killer of Killers, which takes Trachtenberg’s initial anthology film concept and boldly stretches it across three different anthology stories that eventually become intertwined. Like Prey, each tale is a throwback period piece with a deep and resonant character story at its center, and each of the three stories also introduces an exciting new Predator character and pits them in a bloody, brutal, and thrilling clash with their human target. If that wasn’t enough, a final act twist taps back into the lore of previous films like Predators, with the Yautja bringing these three warriors together for a grand event.
If Prey is proof of concept, Killer of Killers is Trachtenberg and co. taking that conceptual ball and running with it, showing that the reins of the franchise are confidently in hand. The only reason Killer or Kilers ranks below Prey is due to the fact that the latter film achieved everything it did in live-action. Besides that technicality in format, KoK is another big win for the franchise.
2) Prey
The Predator franchise got a new shot of life with this Hulu surprise prequel. Director Dan Trachtenberg tapped into the core appeal of the original Predator movie, while proving the concept can be transferred to new settings and character stories via anthology-style stories. The period survivalist tale about 18th-century Native American Comanches mixes beautifully with the sci-fi/horror of Predator, while offering some novel new elements the franchise hasn’t seen before. When it comes to the Predator franchise, Prey was blessed return to form.
1) Predator
The novelty of this military-action-sci-fi-horror film will never be matched. Predator begins as the epitome of late 1980s/1990s testosterone action films, led by a charismatic and muscular star in Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, when things shift into a survival-horror nightmare in the second act, John McTiernan’s film truly becomes a classic.
Utilizing a monster concept and visual effects unseen at the time, Predator had every tough guy looking over his shoulder in fear at every shifting shadow. It also spawned a franchise that still endures some nearly 40 years later. Predator is also infinitely rewatchable and has stayed relevant in pop culture into the meme/gif era. It remains the king of this franchise with little threat of ever losing its crown.
The Predator franchise will continue with Predator: Badlands on November 7th. Killer of Killers can be streamed on Hulu-Disney+.
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