When The Purge hit theaters in 2013, it became nothing short of a cultural phenomenon, inspiring countless parodies and online discussions about how one might survive a real-life Purge scenario. Sadly, it's also a genuinely terrible film, but the fact that it made such an impact anyway speaks to the fascinating nature of the premise.
The Purge is set in a bonkers future society in which once a year, all crime becomes legal for 12 hours. Yet in a baffling decision on the filmmakers' part, the movie itself takes place entirely inside one house occupied by uninteresting characters, and director James DeMonaco rarely provides a glimpse into the outside world. It would be like if Avatar never showed us Pandora but instead just followed Jake Sully sauntering around a space station the whole time.
We all wanted to see what would happen if crime were legal for a period of time, but The Purge utterly failed to deliver. This was a strange case where a movie became massively popular because it was so disappointing that it sparked our imaginations and forced us to come up with something better in our heads.
But after The Purge left theaters, something happened that rarely occurs in horror. DeMonaco took all of our criticism to heart, and with the sequel, The Purge: Anarchy, he corrected nearly everything that was wrong with the first Purge and turned this series back into one worth paying attention to. With the upcoming The Purge: Election Year, the plot of which was unveiled this week in the first trailer, DeMonaco appears to be doubling down on the successes of Anarchy, and he may have saved the franchise from the brink of death after an embarrassing introductory chapter. It might just be the first horror series in history where it’s recommended that you watch the sequels but skip the first one.
In anticipation of Election Year, let’s take a look back at how DeMonaco pulled off this astounding feat. First of all, Anarchy was a breath of fresh air because the characters actually go outside. We witness how the Purge affects a large city full of diverse characters, and the entire running time isn’t spent following a boring family as they run around in the dark and make ludicrous decisions. This upgrade can be attributed in part to the larger budget, as Blumhouse spent $9 million on Anarchy compared to the $3 million they spent on the original Purge. But it's still commendable that rather than just lazily rehashing the first movie, DeMonaco listened to the fans and took their feedback into consideration.
The original Purge also filled our minds with so many questions about how this universe operates, but it seemed disinterested in focusing on any of that. Once the action begins, the premise becomes irrelevant. Every single thing that happens in The Purge could happen in any home invasion flick, and the Purge idea becomes the movie equivalent of clickbait.
With Anarchy, on the other hand, DeMonaco offers moment after moment that explores the intricacies of this future society. We find out that there’s a whole business where wealthy people pay kidnappers to deliver victims that they can "purge" while in the safety of their own homes. In a dark but weirdly believable twist, terminally ill individuals can actually volunteer to have themselves "purged" in exchange for large sums of money that will be passed on to their family. Without giving too much away about Anarchy, we learn plenty more about the New Founding Fathers and the role the government plays in this whole mess, something that was unclear before. We even see the rise of an anti-Purge movement that's beginning to catch on, lead by a Malcolm X type figure. Simply put, it’s a fully fleshed out world that takes advantage of the premise rather than abandoning it to tell a generic story.
DeMonaco also realized that these movies don’t necessarily have to be driven by horror. Anarchy has some scares sprinkled throughout, but it really is more of an action/thriller than a traditional horror flick. That was a wise decision; The Purge idea is simply too captivating for DeMonaco to weigh himself down by adhering to genre conventions so strictly, and Election Year looks like it's further emphasizing the action/thriller tone, becoming more like The Hunger Games and less like The Strangers.
In fact, based on the first trailer for Election Year, DeMonaco seems to be making all the right decisions, taking the franchise in the right direction by telling completely unique stories that could only occur in this screwed up little universe. In Election Year, an idealistic politician hopes this year’s Purge will be the country’s last, but not everyone shares her desire to be rid of the annual ceremony. DeMonaco is embracing the wackiness, further tackling the political storyline that we all wanted to see from the first movie and actually building upon events in the previous film by bringing Frank Grillo back on board.
These Purge movies are still ridiculous, implausible, and chock full of unsubtle allegories that beat you over the head with messages about class warfare and corrupt politicians. It's a guilty pleasure to be sure. But despite the flaws, we’re now being presented a compelling tale that we couldn't find in any other movie series, and that certainly can not be said of the original, mind-numbingly bland Purge. DeMonaco has tossed out everything that didn’t work about that dreadful installment and is finally creating what we all bought tickets for in 2013. He has done the impossible of taking a bad movie and making it over into what's looking to become a genuinely great series.
The Purge: Election Year opens on July 1.
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