Movie Smarts

Predator Quiz: Keep Your Wits About You

You have seen the movie. Now see how much of it you can bring back.

Published 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-10-24 15 questions

Predator: The Jungle Has a New Hiring Manager

A rescue team heads into the jungle expecting trouble from people. That turns out to be a very small part of the problem. Something is watching from the trees, and it has tools the soldiers were not trained to handle. As the group gets picked apart, all the muscles and confidence in the world start looking less useful than a good hiding place.

The jungle is watching. Try not to guess too loudly.

1. Who directed Predator?
- Tony Scott
- James Cameron
- John McTiernan
- Walter Hill
Predator was only McTiernan's second feature, after the little-seen Nomads, and it got him Die Hard the following year. James Cameron's sole contribution was reportedly an offhand remark to designer Stan Winston that the creature ought to have mandibles.
2. What is Arnold Schwarzenegger's character called?
- Mac
- Dillon
- Dutch
- Blain
Dutch is Major Alan Schaefer, leader of a rescue team that prides itself on never having lost a man. Mac and Blain are two of his own soldiers, and Dillon is the old friend, now with the CIA, who talks him into the job.
3. Who plays Dillon?
- Carl Weathers
- Keith David
- Bill Duke
- Danny Glover
Weathers was best known as Apollo Creed in the Rocky films, and Dillon is the CIA man whose briefing is not the whole truth. He goes down fighting after the creature takes his arm off with the gun still firing. Danny Glover led the sequel instead.
4. Which actor plays the heavy-gun-carrying Blain?
- Jesse Ventura
- Richard Chaves
- Shane Black
- Sonny Landham
Ventura was a professional wrestler at the time and became governor of Minnesota a decade later. Blain lugs a hand-held minigun he calls Ol' Painless, chews tobacco, and gets the line 'I ain't got time to bleed'. Sonny Landham plays the tracker Billy.
5. What is the creature doing on Earth?
- Searching for water
- Hunting humans for sport
- Recovering a stolen ship
- Building a colony
Anna's people have a legend about the hottest years, when a demon comes to make trophies of men, which is as much explanation as the film offers. It hunts only armed prey, which is why it lets Anna go once she has dropped her weapon.
6. What lets the creature become hard to see?
- An optical camouflage device
- A cloud of insects
- A holographic twin
- A smoke screen
Each setup was shot twice, once with the performer in a bright red suit and once empty, and the empty background was then warped through his outline. The cloak fails when the creature gets wet, so the waterfall gives Dutch his first clear look at it.
7. How does the Predator mainly see its prey?
- By electrical signals
- By sound alone
- By reflected moonlight
- By body heat
Its sensors are tuned to body heat, shown in thermal point-of-view shots that turn the soldiers into glowing shapes against the cool jungle. The mask does the seeing; once it comes off, the creature's own eyes get a cruder version of the picture.
8. What accidentally hides Dutch from that vision?
- Ash
- River weeds
- Mud
- Animal blood
After going over the waterfall, Dutch drags himself out coated in cool river mud, and the creature stands over him without seeing a thing. He puts it together and covers himself again on purpose, then spends the night building traps and sharpening stakes.
9. What color is the Predator's blood?
- Black
- Green
- Purple
- Blue
The team finds the luminous green blood on leaves after Mac empties Blain's minigun into the trees where he saw the shimmer. It prompts Dutch's line 'If it bleeds, we can kill it', which is about the only encouragement anyone gets all film.
10. What does the creature collect as trophies?
- Watches and rings
- Boots and uniforms
- Skulls and spines
- Weapons and helmets
The first sign of it is a team of Green Berets found skinned and hanging from the trees, and later the creature polishes a skull it has pulled clean with the spine still attached. The sequel's trophy case famously includes a skull from the Alien films.
11. What is the team told its mission is?
- To destroy a cocaine processing plant
- To capture a rebel commander
- To recover a downed spy satellite
- To rescue a cabinet minister held by guerrillas
Dillon's briefing says a cabinet minister and his aide went down in a helicopter and are being held by guerrillas across the border. The real job is to recover intelligence, and the dead men turn out to have been CIA, as Dutch works out for himself.
12. Which character wears glasses and tells jokes?
- Poncho
- Mac
- Hawkins
- Blain
Hawkins is played by Shane Black, who had just written Lethal Weapon and was cast partly so the producers would have a writer on hand in the jungle. He is the first of the team to die, cut down while chasing Anna through the undergrowth.
13. Who plays the Predator under the suit?
- Kevin Peter Hall
- Doug Jones
- David Prowse
- Peter Mayhew
Hall was well over seven feet tall and also played Harry in Harry and the Hendersons the same year, and he is the helicopter pilot in the final shot. Jean-Claude Van Damme had been hired first, for a spindlier suit that was scrapped after test footage.
14. What weapon is mounted on the creature's shoulder?
- A grenade launcher
- A flamethrower
- A crossbow
- A plasma cannon
The cannon is slaved to the three-dot laser sight on the creature's mask, which is why red dots on a soldier's chest mean he has seconds left. Before the final fight it unclips the cannon and removes the mask, having decided Dutch should be killed by hand.
15. What kind of rescue aircraft is Dutch trying to reach?
- A seaplane
- A helicopter
- A cargo plane
- A glider
The extraction helicopter belongs to General Phillips, and Anna reaches it first because the creature will not hunt the unarmed. It comes back for Dutch after the blast, and the end credits introduce each actor with a grinning freeze frame, sitcom style.

All the answers

1. Who directed Predator?

John McTiernan

Predator was only McTiernan's second feature, after the little-seen Nomads, and it got him Die Hard the following year. James Cameron's sole contribution was reportedly an offhand remark to designer Stan Winston that the creature ought to have mandibles.
2. What is Arnold Schwarzenegger's character called?

Dutch

Dutch is Major Alan Schaefer, leader of a rescue team that prides itself on never having lost a man. Mac and Blain are two of his own soldiers, and Dillon is the old friend, now with the CIA, who talks him into the job.
3. Who plays Dillon?

Carl Weathers

Weathers was best known as Apollo Creed in the Rocky films, and Dillon is the CIA man whose briefing is not the whole truth. He goes down fighting after the creature takes his arm off with the gun still firing. Danny Glover led the sequel instead.
4. Which actor plays the heavy-gun-carrying Blain?

Jesse Ventura

Ventura was a professional wrestler at the time and became governor of Minnesota a decade later. Blain lugs a hand-held minigun he calls Ol' Painless, chews tobacco, and gets the line 'I ain't got time to bleed'. Sonny Landham plays the tracker Billy.
5. What is the creature doing on Earth?

Hunting humans for sport

Anna's people have a legend about the hottest years, when a demon comes to make trophies of men, which is as much explanation as the film offers. It hunts only armed prey, which is why it lets Anna go once she has dropped her weapon.
6. What lets the creature become hard to see?

An optical camouflage device

Each setup was shot twice, once with the performer in a bright red suit and once empty, and the empty background was then warped through his outline. The cloak fails when the creature gets wet, so the waterfall gives Dutch his first clear look at it.
7. How does the Predator mainly see its prey?

By body heat

Its sensors are tuned to body heat, shown in thermal point-of-view shots that turn the soldiers into glowing shapes against the cool jungle. The mask does the seeing; once it comes off, the creature's own eyes get a cruder version of the picture.
8. What accidentally hides Dutch from that vision?

Mud

After going over the waterfall, Dutch drags himself out coated in cool river mud, and the creature stands over him without seeing a thing. He puts it together and covers himself again on purpose, then spends the night building traps and sharpening stakes.
9. What color is the Predator's blood?

Green

The team finds the luminous green blood on leaves after Mac empties Blain's minigun into the trees where he saw the shimmer. It prompts Dutch's line 'If it bleeds, we can kill it', which is about the only encouragement anyone gets all film.
10. What does the creature collect as trophies?

Skulls and spines

The first sign of it is a team of Green Berets found skinned and hanging from the trees, and later the creature polishes a skull it has pulled clean with the spine still attached. The sequel's trophy case famously includes a skull from the Alien films.
11. What is the team told its mission is?

To rescue a cabinet minister held by guerrillas

Dillon's briefing says a cabinet minister and his aide went down in a helicopter and are being held by guerrillas across the border. The real job is to recover intelligence, and the dead men turn out to have been CIA, as Dutch works out for himself.
12. Which character wears glasses and tells jokes?

Hawkins

Hawkins is played by Shane Black, who had just written Lethal Weapon and was cast partly so the producers would have a writer on hand in the jungle. He is the first of the team to die, cut down while chasing Anna through the undergrowth.
13. Who plays the Predator under the suit?

Kevin Peter Hall

Hall was well over seven feet tall and also played Harry in Harry and the Hendersons the same year, and he is the helicopter pilot in the final shot. Jean-Claude Van Damme had been hired first, for a spindlier suit that was scrapped after test footage.
14. What weapon is mounted on the creature's shoulder?

A plasma cannon

The cannon is slaved to the three-dot laser sight on the creature's mask, which is why red dots on a soldier's chest mean he has seconds left. Before the final fight it unclips the cannon and removes the mask, having decided Dutch should be killed by hand.
15. What kind of rescue aircraft is Dutch trying to reach?

A helicopter

The extraction helicopter belongs to General Phillips, and Anna reaches it first because the creature will not hunt the unarmed. It comes back for Dutch after the blast, and the end credits introduce each actor with a grinning freeze frame, sitcom style.