It’s official: Prey is a must-watch monster movie on Disney+

(Image credit: Disney+)

published 4 August 2022

It's official: Prey, the Disney+ reboot of the Predator franchise, is a monster hit as well as a monster movie. It's currently sitting at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to just 80% for the 80s original, a frankly horrifying 33% for 2018's The Predator and just 12% for 2007's Aliens vs Predator: Requiem. Not only that, but the big-name reviews are really positive too. Many are saying this is the best Predator movie since the original, and some are saying it's even better.

Let's start with our Total Film colleagues, whose review has been published on our sister site Gamesradar. "Best post-Arnie Predator variant? Undoubtedly," Kevin Harley says. "Best Predator movie per se? Tough call, but trust this: Prey gets the job done."

I'm excited to see this. I have fond memories of the original, although it's dated terribly, and I've managed to avoid the sequels to ensure my memories aren't tarnished. So I'll be coming to this fresh, and by all accounts, I'm going to love it.

Why you should put Prey on your Disney+ watch list

Over at movie magazine Empire, Prey gets four out of five stars for its "ferocious heroine, authentic period setting, and a bloody string of inventive action beats ...[Amber] Midthunder is a ball of elemental fury." The Independent says it's "brutal" and "pulse-quickening" as well as "emotionally rich", and IGN says Midthunder's performance is a "spine-ripper" in this "lean, mean Predator prequel".

The Verge's Andrew Webster says that "Ultimately what makes Prey work is its simplicity. It never strays from its concept, instead slowly building up the tension before reaching a very exciting battle... Prey made me wish the Predator franchise was turned into something like Assassin’s Creed, with each new entry touching on a different time period, exploring the mythos from a new lens." If the viewing figures are as good as the early scores suggest they'll be, perhaps he'll get his wish.

Prey is available on Disney+ (and on Hulu in the US) from 5th August.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).