The Dan Trachtenberg Movies Ranked
Director Dan Trachtenberg has been able to plug into existing series/franchises with impressive results. Coming to some attention with his PORTAL (2007) fan film and especially with his feature debut and spiritual successor to CLOVERFIELD (2008), Trachtenberg seems to have become the new steward of the Predator series as well. His outgrowth from an internet pop culture and podcasting scene makes his new success more remarkable, as even in this day and age the transition from that online space to mainstream and traditional media success isn’t often done. Trachtenberg has made five films in the 22 years since 2003 (two shorts and three features) and directed a number of episodes of television. Trachtenberg’s first short KICKIN’ (2003), however, is difficult to track own, if it’s indeed available anywhere online. So considered here are the three features he’s made since 2016 and his earlier short film…
#4 — PORTAL: NO ESCAPE (2011)
Trachtenberg’s aforementioned PORTAL fan film, coming eight years after his first short and the longest gap between film director credits for him, is a brief interpretation of that great game and I suppose its 2011 sequel as well. PORTAL: NO ESCAPE is pretty humorless, unlike the games, but it’s an affectingly moody tone piece. It must have had a miniscule budget, which makes its visual effects, in the context of 2011 “internet video” CG, all the more impressive. PORTAL: NO ESCAPE reportedly impressed J.J. Abrams/Bad Robot, leading to Trachtenberg’s directing 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE, which makes sense because the entirety of this short foreshadows the opening moments of that feature debut.
#3 — PREDATOR: KILLER OF KILLERS (2025)
Trachtenberg’s latest film at the time of this writing is also his first of two Predator films to release in 2025. PREDATOR: KILLER OF KILLERS, as opposed to the more “traditional” live action film to come in the form of PREDATOR: BADLANDS later this year, is an animated semi-anthology film. I say semi-anthology because the three segments dovetail into a final act, where the threads of human ingenuity and family actually weave together with affecting heart. KILLER OF KILLERS’ animation style took some getting used to for me; it’s a little too approximate of certain video games’ graphics. But that’s appropriate for this film’s over-the-top approach to action and gory kills, from medieval Norway to feudal Japan (the best segment) to the Atlantic during World War II. KILLER OF KILLERS is a solid expansion of the cultural appreciation of Trachtenberg’s first film in the Predator series.
#2 — PREY (2022)
That film was PREY, a breath of fresh air for the series (which is mostly full of middling to bad films save the first) after the letdown of Shane Black’s THE PREDATOR (2018). PREY follows a young Comanche woman, played with affecting vulnerability and resolve by Amber Midthunder, in the early 1700s. There’s a respectable commitment to historical and cultural authenticity, although outside of select moments, the film is performed in English. A full Comanche dub was also released, but I wish that extra bit of commitment was the default for this film. But that’s a bit of a quibble. PREY really drives home the Predator series’ theme of “humans can kill bigger and badder creatures than them” by placing the action into supposedly “primitive” environs and technology. In doing so, it draws some pretty clear comparisons to colonialism, especially since villainous French fur trappers factor into the story. Overall, PREY choreographs clever and gory action scenes and the emotional beats that feed into them are rendered to great effect.
#1–10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (2016)
But it’s Trachtenberg’s feature directorial debut that still sticks with me the most. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE has a nominal connection to CLOVERFIELD, although as Steve Zaragoza and Mike Falzone’s podcast CLOVERFEELS can illuminate (which is how I became aware of Trachtenberg himself), there are many, many nods to that found footage monster movie. That reflects how Trachtenberg has been able to come to these existing “properties” and recontextualize them into satisfying deviations of genre and approach. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE is a tense “enclosed space” thriller with killer performances from Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., and especially John Goodman. Teasing just enough clues as to what’s going on and redirecting expectations in slight yet clever ways, the film is anxiety-inducing in the best way. The climax and deliberate connection to CLOVERFIELD is less satisfying than the rest of the movie (indeed, the script started as totally unrelated to what is now a loose franchise). But 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE is clearly Trachtenberg’s best film, although his subsequent work has still totally entertained in different ways.
