If you’re looking forward to the upcoming Predator: Badlands, set to release in the U.S. on November 7, 2025, now is the perfect time to rewatch the Predator movies. There aren’t too many of them, so you could easily do a full Predator marathon. But if you want to narrow it down to the very best Predator entries, here are our picks.
What are the best Predator movies as of 2025?
As with any “best-of” list, take our picks with a grain of salt. This list mixes our personal favorites with fan and critic consensus. Depending on your taste, you could probably swap out any of the films (except for the original Predator and the most recent Prey) for another entry in the series. Also, note that this list isn’t ranked.
Prey (2022)
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg with a script by Patrick Aison, Prey brought hope to a franchise that had been struggling to find its footing. Instead of jumping further into the future or somewhere in the relatively recent past, it takes us back to 1719. On the Great Plains, a young Comanche warrior named Naru sets out to prove herself, only to come face-to-face with a galactic predator, called the Mupitsi by the Comanche, who is hunting humans. But that’s not the only threat — she’s also up against French fur traders who have some more insidious plans.
The film is a very solid watch. There is plenty that can be said about exactly why this movie works, but we’ll keep it as simple as we can and say, although it’s certainly an action movie, it doesn’t skimp on character development. It also gives us plenty to unpack in regards to thematic elements, particularly in placing this hungry alien invader on indigenous lands.
Predator (1987)
We couldn’t leave the original off this list. John McTiernan‘s Predator is where it all began. Another movie classic in the McTiernan canon alongside Die Hard, Predator is a genre-defining mix of sci-fi, action, and horror that set us up for an enduring franchise, even despite some of the Predator movie flops.
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a U.S. soldier who leads an elite commando team deep into the Central American jungle. But along with his team, they soon start to find skinned bodies. And soon, they realized that whatever’s doing this is after them, too. What begins as a muscle-bound rescue mission quickly turns into a game of survival against one of cinema’s most iconic monsters.
Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
A fantastic animated anthology film from Dan Trachtenberg, Predator: Killer of Killers takes us across multiple time periods, including the Viking age, Feudal Japan, and World War II. In every era of this narrative triptych, a terrifying Predator emerges. The script manages to be both gripping and also hard to watch at times. The animation is nothing short of breathtaking, which is a word we didn’t expect to use on a film so violent. Much like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Killer of Killers proves that animation can often be the most effective way to tell a story. The studio absolutely missed out in not aiming for a theatrical release here. This movie belongs on the big screen. The visual work from The Third Floor is outstanding, so if you’re not familiar with their work, now’s the time to get acquainted.
Predators (2010)
We’ll watch pretty much any movie with Adrien Brody in it. While elements of this film can be questionable (Roger Ebert was not happy with this one), Brody leads the film in a way only he can. The rest of the cast including Mahershala Ali, Walter Goggins, Topher Grace, Alcie Braga, and Laurence Fishburne round out this film. The plot resembles something like the 1924 short story The Most Dangerous Game, though the film does flip it a bit and this time we’ve got multiple professional killers who are dropped by some kind of Deus ex Machina in a forest. The games really begin when they realize they’re the ones being hunted.
Predator 2 (1990)
The pick here was a toss-up between Predator 2 and Alien vs. Predator. We wouldn’t call either of them good, but both are still undeniably entertaining. We went with Predator 2, mainly because it’s (subjectively) the better of the two. This sequel swaps the jungle for the streets of Los Angeles, where Danny Glover plays a worn-down LAPD officer already waist-deep in cartel chaos. But he’s about to experience the highlight of his career when extraterrestrial hunters show up and turn the city into their new hunting ground. By the time Predator 2 went into pre-production, original director John McTiernan had become too expensive to hire. It’s evident the film definitely suffers a bit because of it. Still, if you go in expecting a B-level action-horror romp, you’ll walk away having had a pretty good time.
How we picked the best Predator movies
Listen, we know there are only eight films to choose from, so cutting three wasn’t exactly difficult. Alien vs. Predator (2004) is a tough watch, and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) might just be one of the biggest disservices to both franchises as a whole. That really only left The Predator (2018) — and as far as our complete watchlist goes, that’s the one we have no problem skipping.
