Directed by David Osit, Predators has a very simple setup: Was the Dateline NBC spin-off, To Catch a Predator, an ethical television show? To Catch a Predator ran from 2004-2007. It featured TV journalist Chris Hansen luring child predators into a home or private setting and then confronting said predator, which generally led to an arrest. In its time, To Catch a Predator was a sensation; people were fascinated and entertained by the premise, even if you were watching a person’s life come to an end. At one point in the documentary, archive footage of Jimmy Kimmel describes the show as Punk’d, but for child predators. 

Predators examines the process of how a show like this came together. Chris Hansen and his team are not law enforcement; they are entertainers and journalists. Law enforcement would get involved with these operations, but these stings were put together by an organization called “Perverted-Justice”. The documentary interviews a handful of decoys, the young adults who would play the minors that lure in the predators, to see how they feel about the show, almost two decades removed. 

While the first half of Predators is an interesting examination of this 2000s pop culture relic, the documentary takes a hard shift at the midway point of the film. To Catch a Predator came to a close in late 2007 after a major incident in one of the episodes. The show never truly ended; it went off air right as platforms like YouTube took popularity, leading to the clips and memorable moments from the series being reuploaded to the internet. The ethical questions also become deeper in this second half. “Perverted-Justice” was never law enforcement but was always backed up by law enforcement and a major television network, but when content creators took the model of To Catch a Predator and made it their own, it got more complicated. In the current digital landscape, it is easy for anyone to commit to an act of vigilantism and lure a predator into a public space for internet content. Whether or not it is well intentioned or just for getting internet attractions is certainly up for debate. 

The documentary looks at a high-profile To Catch a Predator-inspired YouTuber, Skeeter Hansen. Skeeter has been catching predators for over four years now and has gained over 2 million YouTube subscribers. Skeeter dresses like Hansen and does his best to imitate the energy that Hansen would bring to these awkward and intense social situations. Even if Skeeter is taking down child predators, there is no denying how embarrassing he is when he tells a predator, “You just got Skeeted”. 

Predators takes another creative shift during the final moments. Director Osit, who has remained absent from the documentary, inserts himself into the story. In a tense conversation with Hansen, he discusses why he found To Catch a Predator to be a point of fascination for him. It creates a harsh ending, and whether the documentary answers any of its major questions is left up for interpretation. 

Predators is currently streaming on Paramount+. 

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