Every Death In 1987’s Predator, Ranked By Brutality

The original Predator movie is one of the most famous films in the sci-fi franchise, and it was full of brutal deaths. There have been many different movie crossovers involving the Predator which cover a variety of genres, from Marvel characters to classic 80s sci-fi movies, as seen in the Alien Vs. Predator movies. However, 1987’s Predator kickstarted the franchise with the Jungle Hunter stalking Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch and his paramilitary rescue team through the rainforest landscape, using strange alien weaponry to take them down one by one.

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Originally starting like a war film, Schwarzenegger’s Predator flips genres, as Dutch fights an unexpected Yautja in a rainforest in Central America, transforming itself into an action-packed sci-fi thriller. The alien hunter has since become a classic sci-fi character and, while the movie has aged due to advancements in CGI technology, Predator was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects when it first released. It is not hard to see why, as the movie introduced the iconic Yautja design and Predator’s shocking deaths are still memorable today due to their brutality.

11 Jorge “Poncho” Ramirez

Shot In The Head By Predator’s Shoulder Cannon

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Shortly after Billy’s death, Dutch, Poncho and Anna are making their escape when the Jungle Hunter sneaks up on them while camouflaged by the Predator’s cloaking device. From his position in a nearby tree, the Predator shoots Poncho in the side of his head with a plasma blast, sending him to the ground. Despite the blast being previously catastrophic for other members of the team, Poncho’s head does not explode or look particularly gruesome when Predator shows him lying on the floor.

Predator’s
plasma blasts seem to vary in power consistency as some blasts can shoot a hole through a person, while others seem to knock them down.

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Predator’s plasma blasts seem to vary in power consistency as some blasts can shoot a hole through a person, while others seem to knock them down. Poncho’s death is not very brutal or gory despite being shot with the Predator’s alien gun, and it is over rather quickly. Therefore, Poncho’s death has to be the least brutal death in Predator, as the action quickly moves on from Poncho, even though he is the last member of the team to be killed by the Predator in the movie.

10 American Hostage

The Unnamed CIA Agent Is Shot By A Russian Advisor

While looking for the guerrilla camp, Dutch spies an American hostage through his binoculars being held by a Russian advisor. After kicking the tied-up hostage, the Russian advisor shoots the unnamed hostage in the head. This action sparks the storming of the guerrilla camp by Dutch’s paramilitary team, where Mac informs Dutch that the hostage was actually a CIA agent, meaning that Dillon has been lying to them all along.

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The unnamed CIA agent’s death is not particularly bloody as the death is seen from a long way away and the agent falls partly out of shot. Considering this is a military mission, bullet wounds are to be expected, and the agent’s death is over quickly, making it more humane and less brutal than some of the other deaths in Predator. However, the hostage’s treatment does incite Dutch’s team to launch an assault on the camp due to thinking it was a seemingly innocent foreign cabinet minister or his aide, so it was somewhat brutal in their eyes.

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9 “Stick Around” Guerrilla Soldier

Impaled In Torso By Dutch’s Thrown Knife

Arnold Schwarzenegger utters many badass quotes in Predator, but one of the most memorable quotes also involves a brutal death. When Dutch’s team attacks the guerrilla camp, Dutch throws a knife behind him, pinning a soldier to the wooden wall behind him, telling him to “stick around.” Despite the numerous guerrilla deaths in Predator, this one sticks out, not only because of the comedic one-liner, but for showing a darker side to Dutch’s character.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ”
Get to the chopper!
” line has become so intrinsically tied to the actor that it has been used in advertisements and other shows unrelated to
Predator
.

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Dutch’s one-liners are comedic for the audience and are used as a way to entertain, however, in a real-life situation, someone uttering puns in the face of death is somewhat emotionless. Even considering Dutch’s previous military experience, the battle-hardened leader has a strict moral code, yet the use of one-liners mitigates this. Furthermore, by impaling the guerrilla soldier in the stomach, Dutch has sentenced him to a slow death as it is not necessarily a fatal wound, making it a brutal way to die.

8 Billy Sole

Killed Off-Screen But Makes A Gruesome Reappearance

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Billy Sole was something of an outsider in Dutch’s team, despite being the expert tracker. Throughout Predator, he notices there is something off about the mission, and often looks at the trees, claiming “There’s something out there waiting for us, and it ain’t no man…” After the deaths of Mac and Dillon, Billy decides to discard all his weapons except his machete and face the Predator head on. His actions indicate he is trying to buy Dutch and the others some time, however, his fixation on the Predator could have led to some form of impulsive action without cause.

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Sadly, Billy is killed off-screen by the Predator, and the others only hear his screams echo in the rainforest. Consequently, Billy’s cause of death is officially unknown, although when his body appears later, he is covered in blood, suggesting he put up a fight for the alien hunter and his death was not quick. However, what makes Billy’s death quite brutal is the Predator’s actions towards his dead body; the Jungle Hunter tears Billy’s spinal cord and skull out of his corpse to claim as a trophy.

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7 Al Dillon

Arm Blown Off And Then Impaled By Predator

Carl Weathers’ Dillon has one of the most dramatic deaths in Predator because it has some of the coolest visuals. Distracting Dillon by imitating voices, the invisible Predator dramatically flashes his yellow eyes before firing his plasma cannon at the CIA agent. The subsequent shot severs Dillon’s arm, leading to a cool scene where Dillon’s severed arm continues to fire his gun at the Predator in slow motion.

10 years before
Predator
, Carl Weathers played another military man in a sci-fi movie in Spielberg’s
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
in 1977.

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As Dillon screams in agony, the Predator sneaks around and picks Dillon up with one hand before impaling him with a knife. The drama in this short action sequence makes it one of the more memorable deaths in Predator, but also quite brutal. Having a limb blown off by an alien gun is bad enough, yet the Predator goes one step further by showing an impressive display of strength to finish Dillon off in a vicious way.

6 Various Guerrilla Soldiers

Shot, Stabbed, And Blown up By Dutch’s Team

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The fighting sequence in which Dutch’s team attacks the guerrilla camp is extremely important to Predator’s themes and helps to pay off its clever genre twist. After witnessing the American hostage being killed by a Russian advisor, Dutch launches an explosive assault on the camp. Countless guerrilla soldiers are killed in the action-packed sequence, showing the chaos of a combat situation, with various dying in different ways; soldiers are shot, stabbed, and even blown up by Dutch’s team.

The team’s killing methods range from standard for the situation, like stabbings and shootings, to rather brutal methods, such as setting people aflame.

The camera angles and close character-focused shots make it hard to see the scale of the assault, however, the deaths seen on-screen show a brutal side of combat. Although Dutch’s team is there to complete a mission, some of the methods used on the guerrilla soldiers are overkill. For example, after blasting the Russian advisor with a single shot, Dutch then shoots the guerrilla helping the advisor multiple times. The team’s killing methods range from standard for the situation, like stabbings and shootings, to rather brutal methods, such as setting people aflame.

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5 Sergeant Mac Eliot

Head Blown Up By Predator’s Shoulder Cannon

Following the death of Blain, Dillon and Mac hatch a plan to flush the Predator out. However, when Mac stealthily crawls his way into position, the Predator’s laser target appears on his arm, causing him to stop and check it out. When Mac looks through a gap in a log, the Predator shoots Mac in the face and blood spills over the camera, making it appear as though Mac’s head has exploded. Considering Blain’s death involved a hole being blown through his body, this is a reasonable conclusion, but Dillon’s perspective tells a different story.

In the final 1987
Predator
script, Mac was supposed to have his throat slit by “
the Hunter’s razor-sharp SPUR
,” as opposed to being shot in the face. The shot of Mac’s body from Dillon’s perspective would make more sense for this death, so it has been suggested that Mac’s death was changed when shooting.

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When Dillon looks through the bushes at Mac’s body, his head is intact and only a little bit bloody, making it a much less brutal death than initially depicted. Furthermore, later in the movie, when the Predator inspects his skull collection, there is a skull with a clear hole in its forehead, implying that Mac was shot in the head. Mac’s bloody death was brutal due to his head exploding onto the camera, but the effect was diminished by the goof of his head remaining intact later.

4 Blain Cooper

Hole Shot Through Torso By Predator’s Cannon

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Blain is taken by surprise when the invisible Predator sends a plasma blast towards his turned back. The Predator’s weapon changes its power level once again and the Jungle Hunter’s plasma blast blows a hole through Blain’s torso. Other shots from the plasma cannon are distinctly less messy than Blain’s gruesome death, showing a variance in how the cannon affects humans. This blast is arguably one of the most powerful in Predator, as the only other time we see someone explode from being shot is Mac, although Mac’s death has inconsistencies.

Blain’s death sends the team into a fury as they fire aimlessly into the trees, hoping to injure and kill their allusive hunter.

Blain’s death sends the team into a fury as they fire aimlessly into the trees, hoping to injure and kill their allusive hunter. Mac succeeds in spilling the Predator’s glowing blood, leading to Schwarzenegger’s iconic line: “if it bleeds, we can kill it.” Blain is the second member of the team to be killed in Predator, and Blain’s rather graphic means of death earns him a higher rank for brutality, especially due to its effects on Mac.

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3 Rick Hawkins

Sliced By Predator’s Wrist Blades

Rick Hawkins is the first member of Dutch’s team to be killed by the Predator. Hawkins stood out from the other members due to his large glasses and thin frame; Hawkins is not as strong as the others and appears to have a skill set for intelligence and stealth. Therefore, when Anna tries to escape, Hawkins is the first to try to capture her. While telling Anna to stop making so much noise, the camouflaged Predator swiftly slashes Hawkins before dragging his corpse away into the rainforest.

Hawkins is played by Shane Black, who would go on to direct
The Predator
in 2018.

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Hawkins’ initial death scene is not that impressive as he is dispatched rather quickly by the Predator and the resulting corpse is taken away before it can be seen by the others. However, Dutch and Poncho find Hawkins’ remains a short while later. As the two look onto a small clearing, Dutch and Poncho find what little is left of Hawkins after the Predator has essentially diced him up. Therefore, while Hawkins’ death scene is not particularly brutal, like Billy, what happened to him afterward makes it even more disturbing.

2 Predator/The Jungle Hunter

Crushed By Dutch’s Trap And Self-Destructed

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With Dutch’s team all dead at the hands of the Predator, Dutch sends Anna to the chopper to escape. Meanwhile, he stays behind in order to kill the alien hunter once and for all. Using his surroundings to his advantage, Dutch sets up multiple traps by himself and camouflages himself in mud, showing his ingenuity and adaptability. Interestingly, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to avoid the Predator’s detection in the movie with mud has been much debated, however, it was proved in an experiment by the Corridor Crew in 2023.

Despite the Predator not falling for his original trap, Dutch’s backup trap does eventually stop the Predator as a rigged log falls and pins the Jungle Hunter down.

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Despite the Predator not falling for his original trap, Dutch’s backup trap does eventually stop the Predator as a rigged log falls and pins the Jungle Hunter down. Just as Dutch is about to kill the elusive alien, however, the Predator sets his device for self-destruct, causing Dutch to run away. Having been crushed under the weight of a huge tree and then exploded by his own alien technology, the Predator’s death is definitely one of the most brutal in Predator, especially considering how tough the Yautja are.

1 Jim Hopper & Soldiers

Killed Off-Screen And Skinned By Predator

The first death in Predator is the pilot that the American soldiers find in the cockpit of a crashed helicopter, however, the more memorable deaths come slightly after. Three green beret soldiers are found skinned and strung up a short distance away from the unnamed pilot, with one of them revealed via a dog tag to be Jim Hopper, someone Dutch knew personally.

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While the actual deaths happen off-screen, the methods behind them are clearly shown, and it marks one of Predator’s best scenes because it sets the tone for the rest of the movie. The minute the audience is introduced to this gruesome scene, Predator shows that it’s going to be something more than just a war film, laying the groundwork for the upcoming genre twist when the Predator shows up. Unfortunately for Jim Hopper and his fellow soldiers, his death also marks the most brutal in Predator, as there is nothing worse than being skinned alive.

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9/10 Predator RActionAdventureHorror Sci-Fi

A team of elite commandos led by Major Dutch Schaefer is sent on a rescue mission deep in the Central American jungle. However, they soon find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior with advanced technology and a penchant for collecting human trophies. As the creature picks them off one by one, Dutch must rely on his wits and combat skills to survive the ultimate test of man versus alien.

Director John McTiernan Release Date June 12, 1987 Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger , Carl Weathers , Elpidia Carrillo , Bill Duke , Jesse Ventura , Shane Black , Sonny Landham , Richard Chaves Runtime 107 Minutes Writers Jim Thomas , John Thomas Main Genre Action Expand
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Category: Entertainment