Images via Youtube

I stumbled on this video that 20th Century Fox put out to help promote the release of the 2018 Predator movie.

Done in the style of old the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials, The Predator Holiday special follows a Predator as he hunts down and tries to kill one of Santa’s elves, Sprinkles and his reindeer. This Predator is eventually killed by Santa’s reindeer, Larry. When the Predator’s comrades come to collect his body they themselves are killed by Sprinkles, who was thought to be killed earlier.

Despite only being 2 minutes long this video is filled with a lot of references to past movies in the franchise.

The video opens with Blitzen the reindeer trying to kill the Predator with a minigun, a nod to both Jesse Ventura and Bill Duke’s characters in the first movie.

You also have Sprinkles coming across Dasher’s skinned body hanging upside down from a tree. Another reference to the original movie when Arnold and his team find the bodies of the previous special forces team sent in before them.

The way Sprinkles sees that it’s Dasher based on his dogtags could also be a reference to Predator 2 when Danny Glover is in the cemetery paying respect to Ruben Blades’ character.,Danny Archuleta and he finds Archuleta’s necklace hanging from a tree.

You have Sprinkles running through the forest only to get gutted by the Predator out of nowhere just like that poor sheriff’s deputy in Alien vs. Predator Requiem.

You have a reindeer getting his arm blown off while still shooting his weapon just like Carl Weathers in the first Predator movie.

You have Larry and Santa doing a super-bro arm flex/handshake. A reference to when Arnold and Carl first meet in the first movie complete with Santa saying “Larry you son of a bitch.”

You have the other Predators coming to collect their fallen comrade and offering up a trophy of their own just like in the end of both Predator 2 and Alien vs. Predator.

Bonus points to this tribute because the Predators’ trophy gift to Santa contains a Xenomorph facehugger egg.

The final reference in the video is when you find out Sprinkles survives and Santa says “Sprinkles, you’re bleeding” and Sprinkles replies with “I ain’t got time to bleed.” This refers to one of the more famous lines from the original series in a dialogue between Jesse Ventura and Richard Chaves’ characters.

I feel really bad posting this now, so late after Christmas, but honestly I just stumbled upon this, but hey at least they’re still playing Christmas music on the radio. I really need to work on my game of finding cool stuff on the internet as well as my timing. I’ve said in the past as much as I would love to be a great source for pop culture news but given my current resources and ability to contribute to this site it’s not going to happen. Hopefully I can change this some day. Hell, hopefully someday all these big studios and companies will be hitting me up to help them get their stuff. Until then please check out the full Predator Holiday Special below and also don’t forget check out the new Predator on Blu-Ray and digital download and also don’t please check back soon for more cool stuff.