Dan Trachtenberg (born May 11, 1981) is an American filmmaker and podcast host. He is best known for directing the films 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and Prey (2022), the former earning him a Directors Guild of America Award nomination for Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film. For television, he directed the pilot episodes of The Boys (2019) and The Lost Symbol (2021), the latter of which he also served as an executive producer. Trachtenberg was one of three hosts of The Totally Rad Show podcast and a former co-host of the Geekdrome podcast. He also directed episodes for the Ctrl+Alt+Chicken podcast, all hosted at Revision3. He directed the 2011 short film Portal: No Escape, an episode of Black Mirror entitled "Playtest," and various television commercials and public service announcements. Description above from the Wikipedia article Dan Trachtenberg, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- May 11, 1981 (45)
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Director, writer and producer
- 8 on MovieCove · 13 credits in all
What are Dan Trachtenberg's films like?
Across their 5 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Survival.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
A split, not a type: Light 1 · Serious 1 · Dark 2
Grounded 1 · Stylized 2 · Heightened 1
Gentle 0 · Charged 0 · Intense 4
Steady 0 · Shifting 4 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 0 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 2
Casual 0 · Engaged 4 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 4 · Heavy 0
Resolved 3 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Bittersweet4
- Ambiguous1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Dan Trachtenberg's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 7 of their 8 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Hulu (3).
Subscription and free streaming for Dan Trachtenberg's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
13 credits, 8 with a MovieCove page; 4 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Freddy the 13th (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2028)
Predator: Badlands(2025)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all films
Prey(2022)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
The Lost Symbol(2021)
Midcredits score: 30th percentile of all shows
The Boys(2019)
Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all shows
10 Cloverfield Lane(2016)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
Black Mirror(2011)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all showsMore Than You Can Chew (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
BlackBoxTV Presents (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)
Kickin' (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Phantasm IV: Oblivion(1998)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all filmsMILK (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 13 titles, 11 of them dated from 1998 to 2025.
Biggest box office
Predator: Badlands (2025)
Highest rated
Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
Most popular right now
Predator: Badlands (2025)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
3 major nominations and no wins, 2017–2023.
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
- Directors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Dan Trachtenberg's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 87th percentile, the median of all 5; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 85th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th1
- 25th to 49th2
Shape of the crowd
3 of their 8 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved2
- Crowd Pleaser3
- Mixed3
Reviewers score the atmosphere 74/100 and the pacing 65/100 in their films, across 4 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Dan Trachtenberg's work okay for kids?
Across up to 5 MovieCove titles with content scores, violence & gore and frightening / intense run heavier than most films and sex & nudity and alcohol & drugs lighter.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Dan Trachtenberg work with?
People who share at least 2 of Dan Trachtenberg's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Jim Thomas shares the most, 3.
Writers
- Jim ThomasShared titles: Predator: Badlands (2025), Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), Prey (2022)See all 3 shared titles with Jim Thomas
- John ThomasShared titles: Predator: Badlands (2025), Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), Prey (2022)See all 3 shared titles with John Thomas
- Patrick AisonShared titles: Predator: Badlands (2025), Prey (2022)See all 2 shared titles with Patrick Aison
Actors
- Rick GonzalezShared titles: Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), The Lost Symbol (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Rick Gonzalez
- Sumalee MontanoShared titles: The Lost Symbol (2021), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Sumalee Montano
Cinematographers and editors
- Jeff CutterShared titles: Predator: Badlands (2025), Prey (2022), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)See all 3 shared titles with Jeff Cutter
- Stefan GrubeShared titles: Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Stefan Grube
Producers
- Ben RosenblattShared titles: Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), Prey (2022), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)See all 3 shared titles with Ben Rosenblatt
- John DavisShared titles: Predator: Badlands (2025), Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), Prey (2022)See all 3 shared titles with John Davis
- Lawrence GordonShared titles: Predator: Badlands (2025), Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), Prey (2022)See all 3 shared titles with Lawrence Gordon
- Marc ToberoffShared titles: Predator: Killer of Killers (2025), Prey (2022)See all 2 shared titles with Marc Toberoff
