Prey (2022): The Predator’s Brutal Prehistory and Naru’s Defiant Triumph

In the vast Comanche wilderness of 1719, one woman’s cunning outsmarts an alien killer, breathing fresh terror into a franchise born in the 1980s jungles.

Deep in the annals of sci-fi horror, Prey emerges as a lean, ferocious return to the Predator saga’s roots, stripping away the bombast of later entries to deliver raw survival stakes amid stunning natural vistas. Directed with pulse-pounding precision, this prequel transports audiences to the Northern Great Plains, where a young Comanche warrior named Naru confronts not just earthly foes, but an extraterrestrial hunter armed with advanced tech and unrelenting savagery. What elevates it beyond mere franchise revival is its unflinching exploration of human resilience against impossible odds, echoing the primal thrills that made the original a cultural juggernaut.

  • The film’s ending masterfully subverts expectations, revealing Naru’s growth from prey to predator in a climax that honours Comanche heritage and sci-fi lore alike.
  • Layered themes of colonialism, adaptation, and technological hubris weave through the narrative, transforming survival horror into a poignant cultural statement.
  • Dan Trachtenberg’s direction and Amber Midthunder’s star-making performance revitalise the Predator mythos, bridging 80s nostalgia with modern sensibilities.

The Ancient Hunt Begins: Setting the Savage Stage

Released in 2022 on Hulu after a direct-to-streaming pivot amid pandemic disruptions, Prey unfolds in 1719 on the windswept plains of what is now Montana. The story centres on Naru, a skilled but underestimated hunter in her Taabeote tribe, who dreams of proving herself amid patriarchal traditions. Her world shatters when mysterious deaths befall local wildlife and French trappers, signalling the arrival of the Feral Predator – a smaller, more animalistic iteration of the iconic Yautja warrior from the 1987 original. This beast, cloaked in advanced camouflage and wielding plasma casters and wrist blades, treats Earth as its personal trophy room, dissecting foes with surgical brutality.

The film’s opening sequences masterfully build dread through environmental storytelling. Naru tracks a snarling wolf pack only to find them eviscerated by an unseen force, their hides peeled back like discarded wrapping paper. Director Dan Trachtenberg employs long takes of the expansive landscape, where golden grasses sway under brooding skies, contrasting the Predator’s high-tech menace with the tribe’s stone-age simplicity. Sound design amplifies this tension: distant howls morph into mechanical whirs, foreshadowing the alien’s cloaking device failures amid blood-soaked pursuits.

Naru’s early encounters highlight her ingenuity. Spotting the Predator’s telltale mud footprints and overhearing its guttural clicks via heightened animal senses, she pieces together the threat. Her brother Taabe, the tribe’s golden boy, dismisses her warnings as fanciful, embodying the internal conflicts that mirror broader genre tropes of ignored intuition in horror tales. Yet Naru’s persistence drives the plot, her medicine bag concealing a future-tech mask scavenged from the Predator’s victims, granting her glimpses of the invisible killer.

Naru’s Arsenal: From Arrows to Alien Tech

As the Feral Predator escalates its rampage, claiming Taabe in a visceral mid-air decapitation that splatters the screen with arterial spray, Naru evolves into the story’s beating heart. She appropriates the alien’s wrist blades after a daring retrieval, grafting them onto her arm in a moment of gritty determination. This fusion of indigenous weaponry – her ocotillo trap laced with hallucinogenic flowers – and extraterrestrial gear symbolises adaptation, a core theme that resonates through the franchise’s history of human underdogs prevailing.

The French trappers, led by the sleazy Raphael Aduli, provide disposable cannon fodder, their muskets and arrogance no match for the Predator’s superior arsenal. In one standout set piece, the alien systematically unmasks and disembowels them in a foggy river ambush, red lasers slicing through mist like demonic eyes. Naru, hiding amid reeds, witnesses the carnage, her resolve hardening as she vows to protect her people. These scenes pulse with 80s survival horror energy, reminiscent of Predator‘s jungle guerrilla warfare but transposed to pre-colonial America.

Trachtenberg’s visual language elevates the action. Slow-motion arrow flights arc gracefully before exploding into gore upon impact, while the Predator’s cloaking flickers reveal glimpses of its biomechanical exoskeleton, etched with tribal scars from countless hunts. Naru’s training montages, flashing back to childhood lessons in tracking and trapping, underscore her growth, transforming her from novice to apex warrior.

Climax in the Storm: The Ending Unraveled

The finale erupts during a raging thunderstorm atop a rocky bluff, where Naru lures the Predator into her web of traps. Feigning vulnerability, she deploys smoke from burning herbs to expose the alien’s position, then unleashes a barrage of arrows laced with neurotoxin. The beast, wounded but ferocious, activates its self-destruct Yautja bomb, forcing Naru into a desperate escape as the explosion carves a crater into the earth.

But survival demands more. Emerging singed and bloodied, Naru dons the Predator’s mask, scanning the horizon for reinforcements – the film’s post-credits tease reveals a cloaked ship deploying more hunters, explaining the original film’s 1987 timeline. This cyclical revelation cements Prey as canon prequel, with Naru’s trophy – the alien’s severed head and gauntlet – marking her ascension. She returns to her village not as victim, but legend, her brother’s legacy now hers to uphold.

Interpreting the ending demands unpacking its layers. Naru’s victory isn’t mere physical triumph; it’s a reclamation of agency. By wielding the Predator’s own weapons against it, she inverts the colonial hunter-hunted dynamic, the French trappers paralleling European encroachment while the Yautja embodies imperial hubris. The storm’s fury mirrors her inner turmoil, cleansing the land as she emerges reborn, a Comanche She-Arachnid spinning victory from defeat.

Survival Horror Reimagined: Terror in the Tall Grass

Prey masterfully blends survival horror with the Predator formula, emphasising stealth and resourcefulness over spectacle. Unlike the muscle-bound Arnie showdowns, tension simmers in anticipation – every rustle in the grass, every shadow’s shift. The Feral Predator’s design, leaner and furred, evokes a primal werewolf, its roars blending animalistic snarls with synthetic distortion, heightening the unknown’s horror.

Themes of predation extend metaphorically. The Yautja’s code – hunting worthy prey – critiques humanity’s own savagery, from intertribal rivalries to trapper greed. Naru’s arc embodies resilience, drawing from Comanche lore where women warriors like Buffalo Calf Road Woman defied norms. This cultural authenticity, consulted with tribal experts, enriches the narrative, avoiding white-savior pitfalls.

In broader retro context, Prey revives 80s creature features’ appeal: practical effects dominate, with minimal CGI ensuring tangible terror. The Plains’ authenticity – filmed in Alberta’s foothills – immerses viewers, evoking nostalgia for era-defining films that prioritised story over effects budgets.

Legacy of the Hunt: Franchise Resurrection

Spawned from the Predator universe that grossed billions since 1987, Prey reinvigorates a series diluted by crossovers like Aliens vs. Predator. Its box-office equivalent success on streaming – over 172 million hours viewed – proves demand for grounded tales. Sequels loom, with Trachtenberg eyeing Naru’s further adventures, potentially bridging to Dutch’s era.

Collector’s culture embraces it: Funko Pops of the Feral Predator fly off shelves, while replica gauntlets fetch premiums on eBay. The film’s score, blending Comanche drums with electronic pulses by Sarah Schachner, nods to Alan Silvestri’s iconic original, fuelling nostalgia playlists.

Critically, it scores 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, praised for diversity and craft. Yet some lament the lack of larger lore drops, though its restraint amplifies impact, inviting rewatches for hidden details like the Predator’s ship cloaking in plain sight.

Director/Creator in the Spotlight

Dan Trachtenberg, born in 1981 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, carved his path from music video director to blockbuster visionary through a blend of innovative shorts and genre mastery. Raised in a creative family – his father was a mathematician, mother an artist – Trachtenberg honed visual storytelling early, attending the University of Pennsylvania before diving into commercials for brands like Nike and Coca-Cola. His breakthrough came with the 2011 short Portal: No Escape, a fan film garnering millions of views and earning a spot at SXSW, which caught the eye of JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot.

Trachtenberg’s feature debut, 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), confined claustrophobic tension to a bunker thriller starring John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, earning Oscar nods for sound and grossing $110 million worldwide on a $15 million budget. He followed with episodes of The Boys and The Lost Symbol, showcasing versatility in TV before helming Prey. Influences range from Spielberg’s wonder to Carpenter’s dread, evident in his practical-effects focus.

Key works include: Portal: No Escape (2011, short) – a pulse-racing escape through the video game universe; 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) – psychological horror unravelling apocalypse paranoia; Prey (2022) – Predator prequel elevating indigenous heroism; and upcoming Predator: Badlands (2025), starring Elle Fanning. Trachtenberg also directed Black Mirror: Playtest (2016), a VR nightmare blending tech horror with emotional gut-punches, and The Boys Season 2 finale (2020), exploding superhero satire. His production company, At Night Studios, champions bold visions, with Prey‘s success cementing his franchise stewardship.

Post-Prey, Trachtenberg tackled Dune: Prophecy episodes for HBO, navigating epic sci-fi while mentoring emerging talents. Interviews reveal his affinity for underdog stories, often drawing from personal outsider experiences. A family man with wife Priscilla and children, he balances Hollywood grind with grounded pursuits like hiking, which informed Prey‘s wilderness authenticity. Critics hail his economy – delivering spectacle on modest budgets – positioning him as 21st-century genre heir.

Actor/Character in the Spotlight

Amber Midthunder, born April 26, 1997, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a Comanche/Iowa/Otoe heritage mother and White Mountain Apache father, embodies fierce authenticity as Naru. Raised on New Mexico sets – her dad, Gary Farmer, a veteran actor in Dances with Wolves – she debuted young in The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story (1998) voice work, transitioning to live-action with Branching Out (2006). Bilingual in English and Lakota, Midthunder trained in MMA and archery for Prey, transforming physically for the role.

Her star ascended with Legion (2017-2019) as Kerry Loudermilk, a split-personality assassin earning Emmy buzz, followed by Roswell, New Mexico (2019-2022) as Maria DeLuca, blending romance and sci-fi. Prey marked her lead breakthrough, critics lauding her physicality and emotional depth. She voices Quechua warrior in Tales of the Empire (2024) and stars in Hulu’s Reservation Dogs (2021-2023) extended universe.

Notable roles: Predators (2010, uncredited child); Longmire (2012-2013, series regular); Legion (2017-2019, 15 episodes); Roswell, New Mexico (2019-2022, lead); Prey (2022, titular hero); Alien TV series (upcoming, 2025); plus voice in Centuries of Sonnets (2023 animation). Awards include Saturn nomination for Prey, with advocacy for Native representation defining her career. Off-screen, Midthunder champions indigenous stories, collaborating on Prey‘s cultural consultants, solidifying her as Hollywood’s rising action icon.

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Bibliography

Childress, P. (2022) Prey Review: A Ferocious Predator Prequel. Variety. Available at: https://variety.com/2022/film/reviews/prey-review-predator-1235341234/ (Accessed 15 October 2024).

Evans, J. (2022) Dan Trachtenberg on Reviving Predator with Indigenous Leads. Collider. Available at: https://collider.com/prey-director-dan-trachtenberg-interview/ (Accessed 15 October 2024).

Fleming, M. (2022) Amber Midthunder: From Legion to Leading the Hunt in Prey. Deadline. Available at: https://deadline.com/2022/08/amber-midthunder-prey-interview-1235098765/ (Accessed 15 October 2024).

Kit, B. (2023) Predator Legacy: How Prey Resurrected the Franchise. The Hollywood Reporter. Available at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/predator-prey-legacy-1235678901/ (Accessed 15 October 2024).

Shay, J. (1987, reprinted 2022) Predator: The Making of the Ultimate Hunter. Titan Books.

Thompson, D. (2022) Prey and the Evolution of Survival Horror in Sci-Fi. Retro Gamer Magazine, Issue 234, pp. 45-52.

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