If It Bleeds, We Can Rewatch It: Revisiting Every Predator Film Ahead of ‘Predator: Badlands’

The hunt is back on. And this time, it’s more personal than ever! With Predator: Badlands stalking into cinemas on November 7, director Dan Trachtenberg (the visionary behind 2022’s Prey) returns to the franchise with something bold, strange, and ferociously new. Set on a deadly alien world, Badlands follows Dek, a young Predator outcast, who forms an uneasy alliance with a human, Thia (Elle Fanning), in a fight for survival.

It’s a fresh chapter in one of cinema’s most enduring scifi sagas. A saga that began 38 years ago with a mud-caked Arnold Schwarzenegger growling, “If it bleeds, we can kill it.”

And with the fantastic Predator 5-Movie Collection landing on 4K Ultra HD™ and Blu-ray™ from November 10, there’s never been a better time to revisit every hunt, every roar, and every gruesome trophy the Yautja have claimed.

So, before you head into Badlands, let’s look back – chronologically – at how the galaxy’s deadliest hunters have evolved, adapted, and continued to stalk our collective nightmares.

Predator (1987) – The Original Hunt

It started in the jungle. John McTiernan’s Predator is lean, sweaty perfection. The perfect genre mash-up of macho action and primal horror that’s as tense now as it was in ’87. Schwarzenegger’s elite rescue squad is picked off one by one by a near-invisible extraterrestrial hunter, a creature equal parts myth and muscle.
Stan Winston’s now-iconic design, the thermal vision POV, and that unforgettable clicking sound transformed what could’ve been just another ‘80s shoot-’em-up into something mythic. The final mud-caked showdown between Dutch and the Predator is still one of cinema’s most stripped- down, brutal duels.

Why it’s a MUST rewatch: It’s pure, unfiltered Predator DNA. A survival horror classic that defined what a cinematic monster should be.

Predator 2 (1990) – The Hunt Moves to the City

Three years later, the Predator traded the jungle for the concrete chaos of Los Angeles. It’s 1997, the heatwave is brutal, the crime rate worse, and a new hunter has arrived to thin the
herd.
Danny Glover’s Lieutenant Harrigan steps into the lead role, bringing blue-collar grit to a sequel that’s louder, bloodier, and wilder than its predecessor. It expands the lore, introducing the Predator ship, the weapon wall, and that tantalising xenomorph skull cameo that launched
decades of crossover fever.

Why it’s a MUST rewatch: It’s an underrated, neon-drenched urban horror with big energy and even bigger kills. A cult gem that rewards a fresh look.

Predators (2010) – The Game Preserve Nightmare

After a 20-year gap, Predators brought the hunt off-world. Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, and acrew of killers wake up on an alien planet that’s one giant game preserve… and they’re the prey.
Produced by Robert Rodriguez and directed by Nimród Antal, the film went back to the franchise’s roots: survival, paranoia, and the terror of being hunted by something smarter, faster, and stronger. The addition of “Super Predators” (a bigger, meaner subspecies) gave the mythology fresh teeth.

Why it’s a MUST rewatch: It’s a back-to-basics blast with a pulpy, old-school feel. Think The Most Dangerous Game meets Predator, turned up to eleven.

The Predator (2018) – Bigger, Louder, and a Little Unhinged

Shane Black, who acted in the original, returned to the jungle with a mischievous grin. The Predator is part action-comedy, part sci-fi mayhem, and part unhinged monster mash.
A rogue Predator crashes to Earth, followed by a genetically upgraded version of its species, as a band of misfit soldiers tries to survive between them. It’s messy, manic, and occasionally brilliant, expanding the lore with talk of hybridisation, evolution, and interspecies arms races.

Why it’s a MUST rewatch: It’s the franchise’s wild child. Imperfect, chaotic, but packed with ideas. A fascinating prelude to Prey’s grounded reinvention.

Prey (2022) – Back to Basics, Back to Brilliance

After 35 years of sequels and spin-offs, Prey stripped everything back, and the result was electric. Set in 18th-century North America, the film follows Naru (Amber Midthunder), a young Comanche warrior proving herself against both colonisers and a Predator who’s just arrived on Earth for its first hunt.
Dan Trachtenberg’s direction is precise and primal; Sarah Schachner’s score evokes something ancient and tragic. The result? A franchise completely reborn: visceral, emotional, and genuinely frightening.

Why it’s a MUST rewatch: Because Prey is the purest Predator story since the original. It’s proof that less tech and more tension make the hunt feel fresh again.

Predator: Badlands (2025) – The Next Evolution

Now, the future calls. Set on a brutal alien world, Predator: Badlands flips the formula completely, following a young Predator outcast, Dek, who allies with a stranded human, Thia, on
a planet where everything wants to kill them both.

With astonishing practical effects from W?t? Workshop, an expressive unmasked Predator performance from Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, and an all-new constructed Yautja language, Badlands dares to make its hunter truly human.

It’s not just a new chapter, it’s a creative evolution. For the first time, we’re not running from the Predator… we’re running with one.

Why rewatch the classics: Because Badlands doesn’t erase the past, it builds on it. Every jungle scream, every rooftop chase, every plasma blast has led here.

The Hunt Never Ends

The Predator 5-Movie Collection lands on 4K Ultra HD™ and Blu-ray™ November 10, featuring Predator, Predator 2, Predators, The Predator, and Prey – all newly remastered with Dolby Vision and Atmos sound.
It’s the definitive way to relive the legacy as the hunt evolves once more. Whether you’re revisiting Schwarzenegger’s jungle showdown or immersing yourself in the quiet power of Prey, there’s never been a better time to dive back into the universe of cinema’s most ruthless hunter.
Sharpen your blades, cloak your signal, and turn off the heat vision because the Yautja are watching. And trust us… they’ve never looked better.

Pre-order now at Amazon, HMV, Zavvi and Rarewaves

© 2025 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS.