Where To Start Watching Predator, All 9 Films Ranked

By TeeJay Small
| Published 3 seconds ago

Action movie fans have been tuning in to see the Predator tear through television tough-guys like wet tissue paper since 1987. In that time, we’ve gotten nine films ranging from genre-defining classics to embarrassing missteps. Along the way, we’ve seen crossover specials, graphic novels, fan-films, and more, highlighting the unstoppable killing power of the Yautja hunters.

With so many films to choose from, it might be dizzying for new fans looking to find a point of entry. I’m here to solve that. These are the Predator films, ranked worst to best.

9. The Predator (2018)

Shane Black’s The Predator offers a bold new take on the franchise. The film asks such questions as “what if the Predator were 11 feet tall and fully made of bad CGI,” and “wouldn’t it be hilarious if the Predator acted like Bugs Bunny?” The answer to that last question is… I guess? But only if you don’t mind watching Shane Black spit in the face of each previous Predator movie.

The Predator feels more like a Scary Movie version of the 1987 classic than an earnest attempt at a sci-fi slasher. It features bizarre gags such as a Yautja dog that owes its loyalty to anyone who shoots it in the head with a shotgun, a man blowing his own head off with a shoulder cannon because he glanced 90 degrees to the side, and an Iron Man suit that was meant to take this franchise into borderline anime territory, if further explored. At one point the Predator rips off a man’s arm, fashions the hand into a thumbs up, and angles it through an open window.

To give Black some credit, The Predator experienced massive studio interference, and suffered from numerous reshoots. If he had received full creative control, we probably wouldn’t have gotten such a tonal disaster. Still, as it currently stands, this is the most embarrassing film in the entire franchise.

8. Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Clocking in with a paltry 12 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, we’ve got 2007’s Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem. This is a sequel to the critically panned crossover event which brought the Yautja hunter face to face with alien Xenomorphs on the big screen for the very first time. It’s by far the darkest film in the series, as evidenced by scenes where the movie monsters tear through a maternity ward, killing a bunch of infants and pregnant women. It’s also the darkest movie in the franchise, literally, so you’ll have to crank the brightness settings on your TV to enjoy even a fraction of it.

The filmmaking duo behind this one had a background exclusively in VFX before helming the would-be blockbuster, so they didn’t handle things like scripting or budgeting with the grace they required. The result is a film that’s been artificially darkened and smothered with movie rain to hide imperfections in the Alien and Predator CGI. The humans are also Degrassi characters, for all intents and purposes, and completely insufferable to watch. I give this one style points for the Alien/Predator hybrid, but I really wouldn’t recommend watching it unless you’ve exhausted every other film on this list, and then some.

7. Prey (2022)

Now we’re getting into some controversial ranking. Some people swear by Prey, and cite it as the best that the franchise has to offer. While I obviously don’t share this opinion, I can certainly understand the appeal. This is the first film in the franchise directed by Dan Trachtenberg, and highlights a Native American woman attempting to prove herself to her patriarchal tribe by taking down a massive murderous space alien.

Trachtenberg did such an amazing job with this film that it was nominated for two Academy Awards, and he’s been effectively running the franchise ever since. The best sequence in the movie sees the Predator fighting a grizzly bear in one of the rawest and most intense fight scenes ever committed to film. The only reason this movie isn’t higher on my list is because there’s some seriously stiff competition elsewhere in the franchise. Plus, admittedly, a few of the following entries will be getting bonus points for nostalgia, and Prey didn’t come out until I was already 25 years old.

6. AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004)

This is the point in the list where you tell me I’m an idiot with bad taste, and I tell you to shut up and give Alien Vs. Predator another chance. This film was panned by critics as a mindless action flick, and shunned for abandoning the horror roots of the original 1987 outing. While those critiques are accurate, they don’t detract from the fact that Alien Vs. Predator is about as badass as an action movie can be.

This one follows a group of archaeologists exploring an underground pyramid in Antarctica, where they accidentally awaken a Xenomorph queen. Doing so causes a Yautja ship to send down a trio of Predator hunters, who hack and slash their way through the dig site. Also, the pyramid walls shift to create new rooms and trap explorers every ten minutes. Paul W. S. Anderson might not be lauded by snooty critics for his silly action outings, but he was channeling something in Alien Vs. Predator that I want injected directly into my veins.

5. Predator: Badlands (2025)

Predator: Badlands is the latest film in the franchise, and the third outing from Dan Trachtenberg. This one does the most to expand on the Predator lore, taking the action off-planet and onto a pair of distant alien locales, complete with sentient plant life and giant monsters. People had mixed reactions to the trailer, especially since this is the first Predator movie to center a Yautja hunter as the main protagonist. Luckily, once Badlands arrived in theaters, audiences quickly changed their tune.

Today, this film touts an impressive 86 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 95 percent audience score to match. It also features a crossover plot with the Alien franchise that blends much more cleanly than either of the AVP movies, so we might have a shot at rebooting that element of the franchise if Trachtenberg sets his mind to it. More importantly, Predator: Badlands features no human characters (save for a set of Weyland-Yutani droids), so there’s no need to suffer through any teen drama or rom-com elements. Just good old-fashioned science fiction, and a few Baby Yoda-inspired alien critters.

4. Predator 2 (1990)

Critics hate Predator 2 because they are dumb and annoying. If you watch this film with a fresh set of eyes, you’ll see that it actually rules. It’s a big departure from the rumble in the jungle we experience in the first movie, but transporting the Predator to an urban environment and setting it loose in the midst of a gang war is absolutely brilliant. Danny Glover spends over an hour chasing, fighting, and sweating like a stuck pig as a lone Yautja parades through the streets, stringing up gangsters and terrifying old ladies.

This film is also the first to legitimize the concept of a crossover with the Alien franchise, since it features a giant Xenomorph skull in the background for a single scene. While 1987’s Predator can be credited with kickstarting this whole series, Predator 2 set the tone for everything that would come later by daring to reinvent its premise. In another timeline, we could be stuck with a Rambo-style rehash, where we get six Predator films that serve as needless retreads of the same played-out story. Maybe I’m letting a bit of nostalgia take the wheel, but I could never be convinced that Predator 2 isn’t at least a 4 out of 5 star movie.

3. Predator: Killer Of Killers (2025)

When I first heard that Dan Trachtenberg was making an animated Predator film, I thought it was a bizarre choice. The entire franchise up to this point had been shot in live action, and the best entries have all relied heavily on practical effects. Taking things into animated territory seemed like an ill-advised venture that would only serve to separate the action from the realistic brutality we’d all like to see.

Then, when I fired up Hulu and watched Killer Of Killers, I quickly realized the true reason the film is animated: making this movie in live action would require a production budget of $500 billion. This movie seamlessly leaps from Viking times to feudal Japan to World War 2 to a futuristic Predator home planet without giving you whiplash, and it does so while being absolutely badass at every turn. The ending also ties the entire franchise together in an Avengers: Endgame style crossover, which made me nerd out for hours while breaking it down with my fellow Predator fanatics. There’s a real argument to be made that this is the best that the franchise has to offer, but I personally have the following films tied for my all-time favorite.

2. Predators (2010)

Long before Trachtenberg was taking the Predator franchise to bold new places, we had 2010’s Predators. This movie is still one of the most ambitious outings in the series, centering on a group of ultra-dangerous killers from across the globe who wake up disoriented in a Yautja game preserve somewhere among the stars. Everyone brings their A-game performance-wise; the environments feel uncannily real, and the ever-present threat of Yautja hunters is more terrifying than ever when the humans are away from their home turf.

If ever there were a Predator outing that demanded a follow-up, it’s this one. I’ve even written for this very site about the cliffhanger ending, and how fans deserve a proper resolution. Now that Trachtenberg is doing big things with the Predator lore, maybe we’ll finally get some closure in the coming years. For now, be sure to give Predators a spin, and enjoy some of the most innovative and interesting ideas in the entire franchise.

1. Predator (1987)

Finally, closing out our list, we’ve got the one, the only, the original 1987 Predator. It might be a little anticlimactic, but sometimes you just cannot beat a classic. This film has everything, from bodybuilder commandos with belt-fed Gatling guns to realistic jungle environments and practical effects to silly accents screaming “get to da choppah!” Arnold Schwarzenegger is the perfect cigar-chomping, war-paint-clad action hero to face off against the unseen alien hunter, and he puts on a career-best performance doing so.

Since 1987, Schwarzenegger has loomed over this franchise like a ghost. He has reprised his role in video games, and his character has returned in other mixed media, but we’ve never seen Dutch in any of the other eight films. That’s not for lack of trying, either. Schwarzenegger has been slated to appear in numerous Predator sequels, but each time it’s fallen through due to his other commitments, which included a stint as governor of California.

Where To Start Watching Predator

For my viewing pleasure, 1987’s Predator is a perfect movie. It blends action, science fiction, and horror into one harmonious masterpiece, accented by one of the most iconic movie soundtracks I’ve ever heard. I would watch this movie every day if I could. If you’re looking to get into this franchise for the first time, you can’t go wrong by diving in right at the very beginning.