Why do predators have dreadlocks?

The original design of the creature in John McTiernan’s 1987 action film “Predator” was initially curvier and more animalistic. It was taller, had huge yellow eyes, and a head that looked like a horse’s skull. Fun fact: Jean-Claude Van Damme was the original actor set to play the tall version of the Predator. More fun trivia: In the second part of the movie “The Predator”, During the Halloween night sequence, a young child walks in front of the camera dressed as the original Predator.

The final design of the Predator – called a Yautja in Expanded Universe lore – was more human-like. The predator was a tall man with a muscular, masculine build. He had long tentacles, shark-like skin, and was equipped with high-tech alien hunting gear. He wears a “Predator” mask for the most part, but eventually removes it to reveal a crab-like face, mean eyes, and a vulva mouth with undeniable fangs. The predator’s vaginal face is in keeping with the film’s overall satirical depiction of exaggerated, cartoonish masculinity. The design was impressive enough to carry over into six additional films, not to mention a wide range of additional “Predator” media, including video games, comics, books, and toy lines.

What’s even more surprising is that the predator sported dreadlocks that swung dramatically when it turned its head. The dreadlocks even had small rings and bracelets attached to them and looked adorable. It seems like every Predator wears their hair in a similar manner.

However, the vast sea of ​​”Predator” Expanded Universe lore reveals that those locations aren’t poetry at all. If one digs into the many “Predator” comic books, one will find that those cranial tendrils are actually complex sensory organs that aid the Yautja with his balance and reflexes.

In Brian McDonald’s 1996 comic book “Predator: Strange Roux,” one of the primate creatures is shot in the head while hunting humans in the swamps of south Louisiana. The gun blast blew off several of her “hairs” and she actually started bleeding. This was proof positive and semi-legal that the tendrils of the predator’s skull were definitely not hair, but rather a series of boneless protrusions on the creature’s head. Later in the book, the Hunter takes down the Predator by luring it into quicksand, killing it…and turning it into stew. It appears that predators are edible.

However, the actual biological function of Yautja tendrils would not be clarified until the 2008 novel “Predator: South China Sea” by Jeff VanderMeer. That account eventually demonstrated that tendrils provide enhanced sensory input to the predator, giving it a better sense of balance than humans. They also seem to have introduced a sort of “spider-sense” effect to the aliens, as they also improved the creature’s reflexes. The “South China Sea” conceit also explained why Yautja’s imprisoned tendrils were removed from the 2005 video game “Predator: Concrete Jungle.”

As predators decorate their tendrils with bracelets and ringsObviously, there is an aesthetic aspect to “dreadlocks” in their culture as well. Perhaps in the same way one could pierce one’s nose. In David Bischoff’s 1994 novel Aliens vs. Predators: Planet of the Hunter, a human named Machiko Noguchi falls in with a group of predators and becomes their ally. To fit in better, she grew her hair out to look like a predator’s tendrils. When they are cut off in the novel, Machiko laments that predatory males will no longer find her attractive. Long tendrils are apparently considered beautiful by Yautja yobbos.

The Predator was designed by lead creature designer Stan Winston, who also created monsters and robots for The Terminator, Jurassic Park, Aliens, The Thing, Edward Scissorhands, and hundreds of others. It won four Academy Awards for sound effects and makeup. In interviews included on the “Predator” DVD, Winston revealed that the “dreadlocks” were visualized as quills, perhaps like a porcupine’s. He doesn’t provide many details other than the word “quills,” but his use of the word suggests that Winston wanted the dreadlocks to be hair-like and perhaps detachable. It was not Winston who felt that sense organs should be filled with blood.

Fun fact: When Yuatja uses the cloaking device in the movie “Predator,” a closer look will notice that his dreadlocks aren’t part of his shimmering silhouette. This was done because using the disappearing effect on the hair was too complex for the SFX team. They decided to get around the problem by simply removing the hair to get invisible shots. That’s okay, because it’s barely noticeable.

Other looks at the “Predator” franchise reveal other details as well. For example, most gnats are black, but some predators had blue or red ones. Older predators appear to be greying. In the feature film “AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem”, The Predator is implanted with a xenomorph egg, and the resulting offspring is a mix of the alien and the Predator… with dreadlocks. That was a sure sign that the “hair” was a fleshy part of the monster’s head.