It doesn’t take long for a film series to go from great to awful real quick, especially if there isn’t a specific plan in place from the start. With “Predator,” no one had any plans to make it into full-fledged series, and each new installment has failed to capture what makes the original 1987 film a classic in the action and science-fiction genres.

With the mixed but enjoyable “Predator 2” leading to the increasingly worse “Predators” and “The Predator,” the series has been trying to go bigger and badder and ultimately falling flat. And the less said about the non-canon crossover “Alien vs. Predator,” the better.

But finally, in a back-to-basics return to form, “Prey” is a prequel set 300 years ago that succeeds by focusing on what made that first film so beloved — just a small group of people out in the woods going up against the Predator. No big lore twists, no big CGI set piece with exploding tanks, no modern-day references.

Released as an exclusive only on Hulu earlier in August, this film could have easily been one of the best theatrical experiences of the summer. Nevertheless, it’s still an expertly directed, written and acted action film that delivers on not only the tension and scares but is a smart action film that has more interesting things to say than what’s on the surface.

Set in the Northern Great Plains in North America in 1719, Naru (played by Amber Midthunder) is a young Comanche woman trained as a healer who dreams of becoming a great hunter like her brother, Taabe.

While tracking deer with her dog, Naru witnesses something she believes is a Thunderbird, but is actually the spaceship of an alien that travels from planet to planet, hunting the world’s biggest animals for sport. After discovering a couple of the Predator’s tracks, Naru warns her people there is something big out there, but no one will believe her.

Now, facing a foe beyond her in both skill and strength, Naru must use her smarts as an expert tracker and healer to not only protect her tribe but take down the galaxy’s deadliest killer without tipping it off to her whereabouts.

The most refreshing thing about “Prey” compared to its predecessors is having our hero be an underdog with something to prove beyond the macho-superman caricatures of yesteryear. There are no soldiers or cops or crazed killers going up against the Predator here. Yes, Naru is an excellent tracker and can kill a rabbit or deer, but she is not on the same level in terms of pure strength and size, which makes her journey so great to see.

For the first half hour or so of the film, the Predator isn’t really a presence. We briefly see his ship and he’s hiding with his cloaking tech on in a couple of scenes, but those first 30 to 40 minutes is about Naru. We see her tribe, what their lives are like, what her place in this group is and learn why she wants to prove herself to be a great warrior.

But when the action ramps up and the kills get going, they’re glorious to see — but especially hear. Not as graphic by showing fewer of the Predator’s kills, expert filmmaking and the choice to audibly depict the various deaths are just as horrifying, if not more so when the imagination is left to fill in the gaps. With the creativity that is shown and the violence implied, between the Predator’s technology and the Comanche’s 18th-century weapons, this has some of the best fight scenes and action violence of the series.

And yet, what will keep “Prey” a high mark in the series years from now is its intelligence for both the characters and the subject matter. It’s no coincidence that this prequel is about a foreign entity coming onto First Nations land and brutally killing both animals and people alike. The Predator has always been an allegory for colonization with the white protagonists finally getting their comeuppance, but seeing a native woman protagonist taking it on for once, this is the fight of the century and worth a front-row seat.