“Predator: Killer of Killers” Is A Blood-Stained Ballet of Blades, Honor, and Alien Carnage

Before delivering the next live-action Predator film this fall, director Dan Trachtenberg blesses fans with an animated one in Predator: Killer of Killers for Hulu. Animator Joshua Wassung co-directs the film while Micho Robert Rutare pens the script from a story crafted with Trachtenberg. The film's voice actors include Michael Biehn and Rick Gonzalez.

Structured as three interwoven tales across time, the film drops us into blood-soaked chapters of human history: a Viking raider guiding her young son on a bloody quest for revenge, a ninja in feudal Japan who turns against his Samurai brother in a brutal battle for succession, and a WWII pilot who takes to the sky to investigate an otherworldly threat to the Allied cause.

But while all these warriors are killers in their own right, they are merely prey for their new opponent—the ultimate killer of killers. Each story is brutal, artful, and stylishly executed, but it all serves a single thematic masterstroke: Throughout history, the Predator has been the supreme hunter across all weapon types.

I immediately declare my preference because the samurai-ninja story stands as the crown jewel. Sparse dialogue enables that portion to explore storytelling through its cinematic visuals. Through expression and movement alone, you experience every breath drawn and every internal conflict while witnessing every blade being drawn. 

The second tale combines Kurosawa's silent tension and Giger's otherworldly horror. Silence is used as a weapon to test honor against intergalactic death. Furthermore, the creature takes on the role of an ethereal judge who determines who earns the title of "killer."

The Third Floor delivers breathtaking animation that combines hyper-stylized visuals with brutal beauty without becoming a cartoony. The animation portrays both the raw truth of warfare and the elegant brutality of a hunter at its peak. Trachtenberg maintains his signature style by building narrative tension and emotional depth alongside graphic violence and combat scenes.

Whereas Prey reinvigorated the franchise Killer of Killers takes the series to the next level by evolving its story and presentation. The Predator battles aren't simply about the opponent but what those encounters represent to the warriors involved. The film probes deeper than mere survival by asking which characters deserve to be hunted. It asks: who is worthy of the hunt?

Predator: Killer of Killers represents legacy cinema through its animated and elevated story, which remains lethal.

PREDATOR: KILLER OF KILLERS debuts on Hulu on June 6, 2025.