Predators is an at once frustrating and fascinating documentary around the world of online predators: Sundance Film Festival Review

There’s a certain frustration felt when watching Predators, a 96 minute documentary centering around the series To Catch a Predator, itself an offshoot from NBC’s Dateline.  In the early 2000s, the show lured audiences in as it highlighted online predatory behaviour – primarily older men meeting underage boys and girls for the intention of sexual gratification – and sought to punish these men accordingly.  The show’s oft-smarmy host, Chris Hansen, would casually walk out into the living room of the intended victim (who were ultimately paid of-age actors, hired due to their underage appearance), confront the offender with a disarming conversational approach, and simply ask, “Let me understand…”, seemingly in an attempt to psychologically penetrate the would-be malefactor.

The thing is though, understanding was never really what Hansen set out to do with the series.  The actions of these men were deplorable, without question.  They deserved punishment for their intent to abuse a minor, but many of them also needed psychological treatment.  And as much as Hansen can talk to them, the endgame for the show was never about helping the individual.  It’s a slippery slope of a conversation that follows, as any opinion that questions the relationship Hansen, a journalist, had with the law enforcement often leads to many presuming you’re defending the sexual predators in the instance.

Obviously that’s not the case, but the rehabilitative programs that some of these men needed was never what To Catch a Predator was about.  It was entrapment, “gotcha” television that understandably became a phenomenon, and director David Osit is trying to understand the “Why?”‘; not questioning the show’s popularity, but the reasoning behind Hansen and Dateline’s intentions.  Osit’s reasoning for making the film is gradually revealed, and our frustrations likely align with his, especially when he sits down with Hansen in the film’s third segment – the film broken into threes, with the first focusing on the show’s original run, and the second around a YouTuber’s attempt to imitate the show with less-than-stellar results – and questions the host with a specificity, only to come up short with Hansen’s media-trained answers.

The conversations that Predators could give way to are probably the strongest asset to come out of the film itself. Despite working under the guise of doing good work, there’s a discomfort to what Hansen and imitator YouTuber Skeeter Jean indulge in.  Skeeter, especially, lacks the professionalism and credentials of Hansen, and the decoy he utilises omits the sense of empathy it seems Osit is trying to relay.  Again, the film and its creators aren’t arguing against the predators at its core.  They aren’t asking for pity or mercy.  But there’s more here to than just what’s on the surface of punishment, and it’s that that Osit and his film is trying to explore.

THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)

Predators is screening as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, running between January 23rd and February 2nd, 2025 in person, with select titles available online for the public between January 30th and February 2nd. For more information head to the official Sundance page.

Peter Gray

Seasoned film critic. Gives a great interview. Penchant for horror. Unashamed fan of Michelle Pfeiffer and Jason Momoa.