The early reception to Prey strongly indicates that the Predator franchise is most at home in the forest or the jungle. Hulu's new take on the Predator mythology, Prey is the fifth installment of the Predator series (not counting the Aliens vs Predator spin-offs), and the response to the film has been highly positive. There has even been the fairly widespread sentiment that Prey is the best Predator movie since the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led 1987 progenitor of the Predator series.

Prey is set in 1719, and focuses on a young Comanche woman named Naru (Amber Midthunder) as the principal human protagonist. With its 18th-century timeframe and central role of the Comanche, Prey’s setting places it in a wooded forest as the epicenter of the film’s hunt. This setting shares a common trait with the other most well-received installments of the Predator franchise.

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Predator took place in the jungles of Central America with Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch leading a team of tough commandos and establishing the terrifying menace (and laugh) of the Predator. 2010’s Predators later saw its human characters abducted and brought to a jungle on another planet used as a hunting preserve by the Predators. With the reception Prey has seen, alongside Predator and Predators being its most highly-acclaimed predecessors in the Predator franchise, this indicates that the series thrives the most in a jungle or forest-type of setting.

Why The Predator Franchise Connects Best In A Jungle-Type Setting

Feral Yautja Hunter Predator wield a shield in Prey 2022

A big part of the Predator franchise working so well in a setting of trees, greenery, and wildlife likely lies in the Predators themselves as hunters. Humans have hunted animals in such environments since the dawn of time, and the Predator movies flip mankind’s role in that equation when the alien hunters arrive. The jungle or the forest is an area humans can typically navigate relatively well, but the introduction of the fearsome, mask-wearing Predators makes humans into the very kind of prey they pursue in such environments.

Predator 2 based itself on the concept of the Predator bringing its hunt to an urban setting, while Alien vs Predator took it to the frozen terrain of Antarctica, with Aliens vs Predator: Requiem and The Predator bringing Predators into suburban territory. While not a bad idea, and Predator 2 doing its job the best, the hunting aspect of the Predator is not as central to the environment itself. That is not to say that there should never be any kind of environmental experimentation at all with the Predator franchise. Still, the trait Predator, Predators, and Prey share is placing the Predator in territory that makes the story feel like a hunt from beginning to end, and likely has much to do with their shared popularity.

Prey builds on the Predator's legend while re-inventing the franchise in some noteworthy ways, including with the movie releasing on Hulu with a Comanche language dub. Still, one foundational aspect of the Predator franchise it holds onto is setting itself in a territory that viewers sub-consciously link with hunting. Prey, in achieving the reception that it has, offers a great deal of evidence that hunting based territories are where the Predator franchise is the most at home with its greatest track record of success.

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