TRAILER PARK: Predators

Alien and Predator were my generation's Mummy and Wolf Man, in terms of iconic monsters that dominated playround discussion in the '80s and early-'90s. Both creatures suffered the ignominy of partnering for two "versus" movies (best forgotten about), so I'm glad they're going their separate ways and looking for solo redemption. There's an Alien prequel in the pipeline which sounds promising, mainly because it's being produced by the original's director, Ridley Scott, whom I refuse to believe would attach his name to a cynical, pointless cash-in. More pressingly, Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker studio is behind a second sequel to Predator, based on an unmade script he wrote in 1994...

Predators, directed by Nimród Antal (Vacancy, Armored), revolves around a dispirate group of criminals and killers abducted from Earth and dumped on the Predator homeworld. Once there, they've essentially become "game" to the legendary vagina-faced alien hunters and must survive the ensuing blood sport and find a way to escape. What's surprising is the calibre of talent assembled in the cast: Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), Adrien Brody (King Kong), and Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3), which I'm taking as a promising sign. The first trailer has been released (embedded above), and actually looks decent -- although, admittedly, trailers can be very deceptive for films of this type. But I do like the feel of the location, the overall vibe harkens back to John McTiernan's original, and the Predators themselves look far better than they did in those godawful "versus" movies.

Did I mention how bad they were?

Predators is released in the US on 7 July 2010.