Released in 1990, Predator 2 laid the groundwork for further exploration of the Yautja’s culture and history. The trophy room inside the ship of the Lost Tribe opened the doors to a fascinating yet entirely unknown history of the Hunters, as did the flintlock pistol handed to Danny Glover‘s Mike Harrigan. The seeds of a wide-ranging Yautja mythology were sown in the successful sequel…and it’s pretty likely those seeds took root in the mind of a young Dan Trachtenberg and grew into a lush and savage garden of possibilities that he continues to explore in the animated Predator: Killer of Killers.
2022’s Prey marked Trachtenberg‘s first foray into expanding the Predator franchise and, at the time, it would have been hard to imagine that anyone could have been more successful. Inspired, at least in part, by the idea that the flintlock pistol in Predator 2 had its own story, Trachtenberg took the franchise back in time to 1719 and delivered what’s arguably the best Predator film to date. Inspired, at least in part, by the success of Prey, Trachtenberg created what amounted to a surprise entry in the franchise in Predator: Killer of Killers, using the animated anthology to aggressively expand the Yautja’s role in the history of the universe while simultaneously reframing the existing canon in a moment of true genius. Taking advantage of the freedoms of animation and cleverly leveraging the possibilities of anthological storytelling, Trachtenberg has engineered another instant classic, cementing himself as a singular voice within the franchise and, hopefully, its continued curator.
Though the film’s structure calls to mind a classic joke set-up (a Viking shield maiden, a ninja, a samurai and a WW II pilot walk into a bar), Predator: Killer of Killers‘ punchline delivers a seismic gamechanger to the franchise. Ahead of the release of the next film in the franchise, Predator: Badlands, Trachtenberg fundamentally redefined what the audience experiences while watching a Predator film. No matter your level of Xenopedia expertise, you will leave your viewing of Predator: Killer of Killers differently than you entered it.
Steeped in savage and familiar action, Predator: Killer of Killers manages to take its audience to an unconventional resolution that promises further excavation of the IPs existing properties and, hopefully, inspires future filmmakers with this particular genre.
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