Prey

The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison. It stars Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, and Bennett Taylor.

The story revolves around a young Comanche woman, Naru, who is striving to prove herself as a hunter.

She finds herself having to protect her people from a vicious, humanoid alien that hunts humans for sport, as well as from French fur traders who are destroying the buffalo they rely on for survival.

Development of the film began during the production of The Predator (2018), when producer John Davis was approached by Trachtenberg and Aison, with a concept that they had been developing since 2016.

In late 2020, the film’s title was revealed to be the codename for the fifth installment in the franchise.

Filming took place around Calgary during the summer of 2021, with the entire film being filmed in English, with some sequences being shot in the Comanche language as well.

A full Comanche language dub was provided for the film, with the cast reprising their roles, thus making it the first feature film to do so.

Prey premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2022, and was released by 20th Century Studios as a Hulu original film in the United States and on Disney+ Star internationally on August 5.

The film was very well-received by critics, with praise for its action sequences, Midthunder’s performance, cinematography, Trachtenberg’s direction, and the Indigenous casting, with many critics calling it the best Predator installment since the first film.

While tracking deer she witnesses strange lights in the sky, which she believes to be a Thunderbird and a sign she is ready to become a hunter, but is actually a Predator dropship. Later, a member of the tribe is taken by a lion.

Naru accompanies the search party, which retrieves the wounded man while Taabe stays behind to hunt the prey. Finding large, unusual tracks and a skinned rattlesnake, Naru circles back with Paake and reunites with Taabe.

The three set a trap for the lion but it kills Paake. Naru faces off with the lion but is knocked unconscious when she is distracted by a loud roar and lights in the distance. She awakens at home, having been carried back by Taabe.

He later returns to the village carrying the animal, earning him the title of War Chief. Convinced of a greater threat in the woods, Naru departs with her dog Sarii.

She stumbles into a bog pit and narrowly escapes before being attacked by a grizzly bear. The bear corners her but is then killed by the Predator, giving Naru time to escape before running into a group of Comanche sent to find her.

The Predator, which Naru calls a “Mupitsi” after Pia Mupitsi (‘Mother owl’) a monster in Comanche folklore, ambushes and kills the men in combat, while Naru is caught in a foothold trap. French voyageurs find and cage Naru and Sarii.

Their interpreter, Raphael Adolini, questions Naru about the Predator, whom the Frenchmen have encountered before.

When she refuses to talk, the lead voyageur reveals that he has Taabe captive and tortures him before using both siblings as bait for the Predator, which the French are intent on capturing.

The Predator kills most of the Frenchmen while Taabe and Naru escape. Naru rescues Sarii from the camp and stumbles across a dying Raphael, who teaches her how to use his flintlock pistol in exchange for treatment for his severed leg.

Naru gives him herbs that reduce his body heat to stanch the bleeding. When the Predator arrives, Raphael plays dead. Naru realizes that, due to his reduced heat, the Predator cannot see him.

After it accidentally steps on Raphael, he screams and is killed. Taabe arrives on horseback to rescue Naru. Together they weaken the Predator, but it kills Taabe. Naru flees and finds the surviving lead Frenchman.

She captures him and uses him as bait. Consuming the herbs to hide her body heat, she uses Raphael’s pistol to ambush the Predator after it has killed the voyageur, knocking off its mask, which she knows is used to direct its spear gun.

She steals the device and lures the Predator into the bog, where she positions the mask to face the pit. She battles the Predator, which becomes mired in the bog.

It fires the spear gun at Naru and misses; the mask guides the projectile back to the Predator, killing it. Naru severs its head and paints her face with its glowing green blood.

She returns with its head to her village, where she is declared the new War Chief. Naru informs her tribe that it is time for them to move.

During the beginning of the closing credits, the narrative is summarized in a series of ledger art paintings that ends with a depiction of three Predator vessels descending towards the tribe.