PopHorror Let's Get Scared
With another year closer to the next event we thought could never happen, this world proves it’s destined to make liars of us all. As fiction horror seems to grow more feasible to reality, my two highest concerns are a virus outbreak that reanimates us into violent mindless zombies, and the other? Our government legislates a cleansing night pardoned from any jurisdiction of consequences. Life imitates art, yeah?
Perhaps I owe some of this stimulating morosity due to being introduced to The Purge in 2013. It was an original, horrifically insane idea that spawned its own mythos and anthology in the horror action section that everyone was talking about. This month The Purge officially turns a decade old.
The Purge (2013) Synopsis
A wealthy family is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legal.
The Purge is a dystopian action horror film written and directed by James DeMonaco (Crash – 2009). The film stars Ethan Hawke (Black Phone – 2021), Lena Headey (Pride and Prejudice + Zombies – 2016), Adelaide Kane (Into the Dark – 2019), Rhys Wakefield (Sanctum – 2011), and Max Burkholder (The Orville – 2017)
Now let’s see the OG poster art!
The Setup
In 2014, a political party called the “New Founding Fathers of America” are voted into office following an economic collapse and passed a law sanctioning the “Purge,” an annual event wherein all crime is legal, and emergency services are temporarily suspended for 12 hours. By 2022, the United States is said to have become virtually crime-free, with legal unemployment rates having dropped to 1%.
James Sandin returns to his home in an affluent Los Angeles gated community to wait out the Purge with his wife, Mary, and their children, Zoey and Charlie. The family is assured the security system manufactured by James’ company will keep them safe.
“Tonight allows people a release for all the hatred and violence that they keep up inside them.” ~James Sandin
As the year’s Purge begins, James enables the security system, and the family disperses to go about their everyday routines. Zoey returns to her room and finds her boyfriend Henry, who had snuck in before the security system was engaged, planning on confronting her father about their relationship.
Meanwhile, Charlie watches the security monitors and sees a wounded man calling for help. He temporarily disables the system to allow the man inside, but James races to re-engage the system and holds the man at gunpoint. Henry comes downstairs, points a pistol at James, and opens fire, but then James returns fire and mortally wounds Henry. During the chaos, the stranger disappears.
The family then sees a gang of disturbingly masked, heavily armed preppy people arriving at the front lawn through the surveillance cameras. The young psycho yuppie leader demands the homeless man, warning that failure to comply will result in the unliving of his family. When Mary asks about the security system, James admits it is incapable of withstanding a determined assault.
The family finds and captures the stranger to surrender him to the sinister J Crew catalog syndicate, only to realize that they don’t recognize themselves and nothing will ever be the same again if they go through with turning him over. The Sandins will be forced to fight for their lives against the antagonist homicidal privileged one percenters.
Cool “Purge” Idea: Show Me The Money
The film focuses upon the traditional cinematic nuclear family: a father who has just earned the spot as a top salesman at his place of employment, a mother home cooking for her family while drinking wine, the teenage daughter messing around with her boyfriend (of whom dad does not approve), and the unusual younger sibling, a son playing with his remote controlled vehicle with a camera hidden inside of a half-melted doll.
The film’s premise is a good one. The future is bleak and The Purge allows the poor and downtrodden to be eliminated from society. This is a picture of class warfare. But, the distinction between the rich and the less wealthy is not really explored in any depth. Also, the homeless man, who represents poverty, is only given a few lines and a few scenes. As well, the premise rarely leaves the confines of the Sandin residence. The chaos that would be taking place country-wide is only alluded to in a few early and grainy video images. Where is the chaos?
The limits of production seem to have hampered the development of the film’s premise. The budget of $3 million did not allow for elaborate sets, or, even, exterior shooting. Almost all of the film relies on one setting, the Sandin home, and the few central characters. There are a few violent scenes and The Purge is over, before you know it. The story could have gone so much farther, with the right budget.
The Purge Final Thoughts
Ultimately, the film falls into predictable patterns of the main characters separating and aimlessly wandering in the dark with violent intruders abound. Furthermore, these intruders are reminiscent of those in the film The Strangers though not nearly as frightening. Also, with all crimes legal for 12 hours, the only crime displayed by the film is that of murder, often via the use of firearms. One would think that robbery, drug trafficking, and a myriad of other illegal activities would garner as much interest and attention as violence. Regardless of some predictability, simplicity, and familiarity, The Purge was still an entertaining film that served as a catalyst for an anthology of “Purge Ideas”.
You can watch The Purge on Peacock and on Digital today. Check out the trailer!
