Interviews
‘Predator: Badlands’ – Dan Trachtenberg Previews His “Big, Crazy Swing” [Interview]
With the upcoming animated anthology movie Predator: Killer of Killers, Dan Trachtenberg imagines how Yautja warriors would fare against earthly rivals from different warfare eras. Exciting, right? Well, Predator: Badlands is an even bigger swing. As revealed in its first trailer, Trachtenberg’s live action Predator sequel will follow an underdog Yautja “runt” in a protagonist role, which is newfound territory for the Predator universe.
In addition to sharing the trailer for Predator: Badlands, Bloody Disgusting was exclusively shown the first twenty(ish) minutes of Trachtenberg’s upcoming film, with the caveat that footage was unfinished in various VFX stages. We were intimately introduced to the main character, Dek (played in costume and motion-capture by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), laying the groundwork for a backward Predator experience where we’re rooting for, sympathizing with and explicitly following a Predator’s journey.
The sixth Predator live-action film, eighth if you count Alien vs. Predator crossovers, isn’t afraid to incorporate extended lore. “One of the cool things about the movie is that we’re on Yautja Prime—there’s a lot in this movie from the extended universe.” This is a futuristic Predator sequel with laser grappling hooks and “shinier” technology, built from the ground up. Dek’s spoken Yautja language was developed by the mentee of the fellow who invented Avatar’s Na’vi dialect. “We insanely decided to treat [the language] properly like [Elvish] for Lord of the Rings or [Dothraki] for Game of Thrones, except for those there’s more precedent.”
Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) in 20th Century Studios’ PREDATOR: BADLANDS film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Truthfully, the Predator films haven’t cared much about continuity. “All the stuff you’ve seen in other Predator movies? There’s no sense of it. None of it was made with intention.“ Trachtenberg not only decided to make Predator: Badlands with intention but also developed an entire language. “I wanted to be very careful that I did not fall into a trap [of] making something more lore-focused than story-focused.“ He joked about franchises tending to go “whole hog“ into entries about Senate trading committees or other hyperspecific elements, where he didn’t want his next Predator film to be bogged down by Yautja cultural weights. “I wanted to make [Predator: Badlands] feel genre, feel very specific, and [feel like] an inversion of the [main] premise—now the Predator is on [another] planet, and he’s going to be hunted by things and has to use his guile to [survive].”
Trachtenberg had precise casting ideals for Dek. “We [wanted] a stunt guy.“ Enter Dimitrius, who earned his role through rigorous physical auditions. “[Predator: Badlands] was a real opportunity because all the other Predators needed to be seven feet six. It’s very specific.“ The filmmaker recalled how lucky they got casting Dane DiLiegro as the “Feral“ in Prey because actors of that height aren’t often trained stuntmen, but Dane was an ex-basketball player with athletic abilities. Dek opened the door further to cast a proper stunt actor as a Yautja, presumably like if Jean-Claude Van Damme hadn’t been famously fired from 1987’s original.
Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) in 20th Century Studios’ PREDATOR: BADLANDS film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
“At one of our castings, Dimitrius came up, and the way he moved just had a great swashbuckle,“ recalls Trachtenberg. “We set up a physical obstacle course, and that’s how we cast him.“ What I would give to see is the footage of actors competing in Predator Ninja Warrior for the lead in Predator: Badlands, but it wasn’t just about agility and stamina. Trachtenberg continues, “I was not prepared for what he does [dramatically]; I could not believe it. How did we luck into this guy?“ The eager actor invested himself in the world of Predator: Badlands, learning an imaginary Yautja language and bringing immense passion to the part despite his face never being on camera. That was a highlight brought upon by unfinished visual effects—we could see Schuster-Koloamatangi’s facial intensity covered in painted dots that would eventually become Dek’s signature Yautja profile.
Now, don’t preemptively fret. Predator: Badlands will feature substantial digital effects because of the film’s otherworldly nature. “Every shot’s a visual effects shot. I thought I had a lot of effects shots on Prey, but this is nuts.” There’s no disrespect to the phenomenal practical effects displayed over the years through spine-ripping gore and fantastic Yautja costumes. Trachtenberg reflected on the friendship he built with SFX wizard Alec Gillis, an influential part of the Predator franchise, who ended up working with legendary creative studio WETA Workshop to collaborate on the “movie magic“ of blending practical and digital designs.
Most noticeably, Predator: Badlands relies on Yautja VFX because Stan Winston’s superior headpieces come with practical limitations. In the facial region, where mechanics would open mandibles and raise eyebrows, Trachtenberg requires more emotiveness, given Dek has infinitely more screentime than other Yautjas. “The cool [thing about] what we’re doing is digital effects are meant to match the suit, not match creature flesh.“ WETA worked tirelessly to make Dek and other Predators feel amazingly lifelike yet fantastical, unlike the head-to-toe animation when you see computer-generated Gollum from Lord of the Rings or other fully rendered aliens. “That kind of [animated] flesh is different than a suit, so [our] face perfectly blends in and matches that suit quality—hopefully it looks like real material.“ But Dek can’t one-to-one mirror the actor’s mouth like Andy Serkis as Gollum or any performer in the newer Planet of the Apes films, given how Yautja mandibles operate differently. “Dimitrius is driving the animation, but … it’s all been very tricky, and we’re thankfully finding our way through it. Whenever Dimitrius blinks, we might want that to be an eyebrow movement … or how his smiles and snarls work with the mandibles different from the mouth inside.”
Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) in 20th Century Studios’ PREDATOR: BADLANDS film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
It’s important to note that of the footage I could behold, especially what was nearly 100% polished, Predator: Badlands looked badass. The opening shot has Dek careening over a glistening landscape shot top-down Akira style, immediately giving Trachtenberg’s vision a fresh visual language compared to other franchise entries, like how Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi pops as a Star Wars movie with unique stylistic choices. An action sequence follows between Dek and his Yautja brother—training battleground stuff—followed by Dek’s prideful desire to select Kalisk as his hunting ground, known as the “Death Planet,“ where he’s to prove his unsupportive father wrong. Dek’s ultimately fighting for acceptance in his own clan, with his own bloodline, and if his fight with Kalisk’s first challenge says anything—where he defends against an onslaught of forest murder vines—Dek is a formidable warrior with everything to prove.
Trachtenberg’s list of influences on Predator: Badlands will have action diehards salivating. “There’s a Frank Frazetta, Conan the Barbarian, Spartan thing … but also you think of The Book of Eli or Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior … Shane, [very] western, very Clint Eastwood-y.“ Dek even starts to resemble Conan or Drax the Destroyer later on. The filmmaker went on to detail how happy he was with Prey’s execution but wanted to push Predator: Badlands even further, and mentioned Terrence Malick when recalling his shooting style on set in New Zealand. “We were out in the wilderness with hip waders, in trenches, with eels, and all that for 90% of the shoot … but things were also augmented.“ Despite Trachtenberg’s moderate distaste for the overused descriptor, the word “grounded“ was also tossed around. “We need a better word than grounded, but it’s hard to find.“
There’s an adventurousness and vibrancy to Predator: Badlands that’s not always present in Predator films. Entries have uniformly been more action-centric than horror-forward, but this continuation feels more story-driven. “I never thought [the Predator] was Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger,“ explains Trachtenberg. “[Predators] had a code [like] hitmen or crime underworld Goodfellas. I felt like there was something cool to explore within that culture that’s different than just adding a bunch of stuff on top of it. It felt like we’re mining [ideas] as opposed to just throwing [more] at the franchise.”
Thia (Elle Fanning) in 20th Century Studios’ PREDATOR: BADLANDS film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Something we didn’t see was Elle Fanning’s introduction as Thia (reportedly), nor is Trachtenberg ready to reveal her origin. When asked if there would be more human interactions than Fanning, the answer was, “No comment … I want to save the fun.“ In the slightest of expansions, in response to a question about what Trachtenberg learned about developing character arcs from Prey to Predator: Badlands, he commented, “[Her] story [has the same roots but] is a bit different thematically, and starts to go into a different branch of proving oneself.”
As a bit, Trachtenberg asked us if we had theories about Fanning’s top-secret character. A fellow journalist suggested she’s a hunter from another planet. But someone else noted she has an android-esque mannerism and posed the possible Alien tie to Weyland-Yutani. Trachtenberg smirked, chuckled, and gave us a sly, “Yes, she does.” Is this just the tricky lead-on of a creator keeping our minds racing? Or is it unclear confirmation that we’ll be seeing the Predator and Alien universes colliding again soon? “There’s a unique hook to her character that is exciting in the pairing of [her and Dek].“ Get to speculating, internet.
Thia (Elle Fanning) in 20th Century Studios’ PREDATOR: BADLANDS film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
This is a longer quote from Trachtenberg, but I wanted to include it all so you can make your own assumptions as to Fanning’s inclusion:
“As inspired as I am by movies, I’ve been very inspired by video games [like] Shadow of the Colossus, where you have a protagonist paired with someone else who provides color and connection. There’s a thing with a horse in Shadow of the Colossus that’s devastating when you play the game. And so [Predator: Badlands] was a little bit inspired by that in terms of wanting to see the Predator with someone else, this character who’s the opposite of him. He’s very laconic, [Fanning] is not. She’s capable in ways that he is not. Physically, she’s got a real thing that I’m so excited for you guys to see. But I want to let eventually some of that speak for itself.”
While this is a standalone Predator entry, Trachtenberg still can’t help throwing Easter Eggs in to appease franchise fans. Early in the film, Dek is cycling through holograms, or there’s a trophy case that’ll be worth a giggle. Humans being so low on the competition ranking alone has its comedic appeal. Oh, and no, that’s not a Starship Troopers nod, even though it looks like one (we tried).
But at the end of the day, Predator: Badlands is its own movie. It’s not reliant on memorable skeletons, callbacks to prior releases, or a cheeky line of dialogue. “It’s a big, crazy swing, and I think that’s what drives butts into seats.“ If Prey is any indication, that’s what Predator fans crave after so many recyclable hunter-killer redos. “If you want the same old Predator experience, you can hit play on Predator or Prey or any other, whichever one is your fit.” Trachtenberg’s desire to take us on a brand new ride sounds exactly like what can take the Predator franchise to the next level, and I can’t wait to see the result.
Of all the places to find a coven of witches, the attic above a Christian youth camp is probably the last place you’d think to look. But that’s just what we find in Camp, a surrealist nightmare of feminist empowerment from Canadian filmmaker Avalon Fast.
Emily (Zola Grimmer) is still reckoning with her involvement in a horrific tragedy when she accidentally contributes to the death of her best friend, Charlie (Giselle Morison). Unable to move on, the traumatized teen takes a job at a rural summer camp, hoping to forget her own sorrows by looking after at-risk kids. She quickly connects with a counselor named Clara (Alice Wordsworth) and finds comfort in her close-knit group of female friends. But a mysterious whisper from deep in the woods warns that they may be leading her down a darker path.
Fast burst onto the scene in 2022 with Honeycomb, a psychological horror film that follows a burgeoning matriarchy. Known for their focus on “Girl Horror” stories, the talented young filmmaker tackles similar themes in Camp as Emily leaves the modern world behind to embrace a dark vision of self-discovery through magic.
Ahead of the film’s U.S. release on June 26, Bloody Disgusting sat down with Fast to chat about the nebulous nature of good vs. evil and the intoxicating power of female-driven horror.
Bloody Disgusting: What inspired this unique story? Did you go to religious summer camps when you were young?
Avalon Fast: I did. I went to lots of different summer camps, but all of them were primarily Bible camps. The memory I have of camp is kind of strange. I was very homesick as a kid, and I didn’t necessarily enjoy all my time there. I definitely remember meeting some interesting girls at camp and having that presence of religion hovering around the whole experience.
BD: I really love the film’s gorgeous natural setting. Camp is the kind of surrealist nightmare that you don’t just watch. You feel it too. How did you approach creating this world?
AF: Well, a huge part of it was working with my cinematographer Eily Sprungman, who’s a very close friend. We spent years prepping, shot listing, storyboarding, and mood boarding. She’d had a similar experience to mine. We grew up around the same place, and so we understood each other’s visions from the get-go. But there are so many other pieces that came together. The costuming, the art, and the animated sequences were done by Sofiya Iurkevych. One of our producers, Taylor Nodrick, was obsessed with shooting on Super 8 film. I’ve always wanted to as well, so all the memory sequences were shot on Super 8. It was just a lot of people with an understanding and a vision for what this project was. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.
To the extent that you’re comfortable sharing, what’s your relationship to witchcraft, and what does Camp have to say about modern witches?
Well, that’s the question of Camp. It’s not that I don’t resonate with any of these things, but I specifically wanted Camp to be a little bit ambiguous around what witchcraft looks like. Is this witchcraft? Are these girls witches? Emily explicitly asks if that’s what’s happening here, and the answer isn’t yes. The film isn’t going to answer that question for you. My relationship to magic and witchcraft? It’s tough. I feel like there’s so much magic, connection, and spirituality that comes from these friendships, the closeness of these women, and what’s happening around them. A lot of what Camp is trying to say or show is just that magic can come out of friendship.
I loved watching these female friendships develop. And you’re right. No one ever says the word “coven,” but you can feel that connection, and you can see a change in Emily as those relationships grow. I’m also really fascinated with the way Camp plays with the idea of good and evil. At one point, Clara says, “Maybe God drew us to the devil,” which stopped me in my tracks. How do you view witchcraft or the magic these girls are experiencing in regard to good and evil?
That was such a huge part of the script’s construction. The story is really trying to keep a balance between those two things. I like asking people if they think these girls are good or bad, because I feel like a lot of people come out of the film thinking one or the other. They’ll say things like “thank God Emily found her people” or “God, I really wish she’d gone home.” I just don’t think there’s ever an answer. I wanted to explore the idea of going down the wrong path, especially coming out of grief. What makes you a bad person, and does healing mean you’re looking to become a better person? I don’t have an answer, but I do feel like that’s a huge part of what Camp is asking. What is good? What is bad? Why did God bring me to the devil?
Yes, because this is all happening at “God camp” in Emily’s words. So how can both of those things exist at the same time? Along those lines, I’m also fascinated by the voice Emily hears in the woods. Without spoiling too much, what is this voice asking, and what is required in return?
Emily comes to camp with a shout into the void, asking can anyone hear me? Does anyone want to? And it’s answered so clearly by these girls, specifically responding only with love, care, support, and trust. It’s like her prayers were answered. It doesn’t mean that everything is going to be alright, but Emily is looking for peace. She’s looking for a moment where she feels pure good. And I think, even at its surface level, she does get that experience.
Personally, I don’t really think people are good or bad. I think we all exist somewhere in the middle. Camp centers traditionally villainized characters, but that’s where Emily seems to find her peace, however you choose to define it.
I also wanted to show the experience of having decided that you are a bad person, you’ve made mistakes, and you feel cursed. Then when you meet other people who have done things that you would consider worse, you can actually feel good in their presence. You feel like less of a bad person. I think that’s a huge part of the story as well. Emily’s finding her version of other fucked up people, and she feels less fucked up around them. I’ve found that in my own life. It’s a cool thing. I don’t think it’s bad.
I don’t think it’s bad either. It’s finding your home, your people. We meet Emily in the aftermath of unthinkable trauma. Is this a story about mental health and healing?
Witnessing it myself. witnessing other people experience tragedy and then move through grief, you hear a lot of talk about healing or coming out the other side. There’s so much conversation around what that looks like, with self-care and showing up for yourself. I always felt really averse to it. It annoyed me. I think the beginning of the film speaks to that. The therapeutic version of what getting help looks like is obviously very different from what Camp is showing. And again, I don’t have an answer for what you’re supposed to do. But I think that’s another question I was asking: how do you heal? Do you heal at all? Is that the end goal, or are we just trying to get better? It’s something I experienced in my own grief. And the answer, for me, at least now, is just that I’m not looking to get better. So I felt like I hadn’t. I found it hard to find people to have those conversations with. And I think that’s what I ultimately wanted to make a film about.
I love that unanswered question. In my own experience, I’ve had to reframe what healing actually looks like. There’s not really an endpoint. It’s just finding a way to keep going. There’s also an element of sacrifice in this story, particularly regarding another counselor named Jo (Sophie Bawks-Smith). What role does she play in Emily’s journey?
For me, Jo is this human embodiment of Charlie, Emily’s friend. As Jo, she had a life at this camp before meeting Emily, and then was kind of taken over by Charlie’s spirit. I think a lot of people view Emily’s final choice as horrendous and tragic. In a way it is, but for me, if Jo becomes her angel, it’s almost like a self-sacrifice. Jo knows that by sacrificing herself, she’ll be giving Emily power to move forward. In the original script, the girls were supposed to bring out another counselor, JB (Aidan Laudersmith), and burn his body. But I just thought, there’s no way sacrificing this guy could give the girls enough power. There’s just no way, right? Logically, that just didn’t line up for me.
I’m glad you mentioned JB, because he has his own tragic arc. How do men factor into the world of Camp?
The way men factor into my world is so bizarre. I have such little respect for them in my films, which is something I’ve been called on. I think I have to challenge myself in the future to make a movie about a boy because, these boys … It’s not that the men in my films aren’t redeemable, but there’s no depth to these characters. They’re just treated with such disrespect. I don’t know why I do that, actually. That’s something for me to look into. It was the same with Honeycomb. They’re just such peripheral characters. I’ve had people ask about Kayne (Henri Gillespi), the scary guy at the fire, what happens to him? I just think, I don’t know. I don’t care. That’s not the point of the story.
Well, I can say after a lifetime of watching women on the periphery of the story, the course correction feels nice. In a similar vein, I’m in love with your homepage, avalonfast.com. There’s an image of girls on a film set and then a still from Honeycomb in which a blood-covered girl is screaming at the sky. And in the middle, it just says Girl Horror. It’s a really powerful statement that gives me chills. How do you define Girl Horror, and what draws you to these types of stories?
I was obsessed with the term when I started making my movies. It was something I’d come up with to kind of brand myself and describe what I was doing. Then I went through a period where I felt like it was a bit gender exclusive and didn’t interest me as much. But now I’ve come full circle on the term. I think it’s a bit of a commentary on youth and the horror of growing up female. But I think everybody can relate to that experience. I don’t want it to feel like this exclusive thing, that I make movies exclusively for girls, because I don’t think I do. I’m interested in exploring what Girl Horror means. Originally, it was just a title, something I came up with, and now it’s become something that resonates with people. You said it gave you chills. That’s cool for me to hear because there’s obviously some depth there.
Are you working on anything new?
Yes. I am actually making a movie about a boy. That’s the next thing.
That’s exciting! The more I think about feminism, the more I end up coming back to men and boys, because they have a place in the world of Girl Horror too.
Absolutely. It’s all just part of being human.
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