The Purge

Summary

“Just keep in mind, Mr. Sandin, he was my friend and you are not.”

In 2013, director and writer James DeMonaco released the Blumhouse produced thriller The Purge. The Purge is a thriller/horror picture that has some speculative science fiction elements in which it envisions a different America in the year 2022. The film was produced for around three million dollars and was an enormous box office success that grossed over $89 million dollars. The film proved to be a winning formula and inspired four sequels. With the release of the fifth film eminent, I decided to finally take the plunge and check out the series for myself. I had not seen any of the films when they were displayed theatrically, so I enjoyed watching the films in order to see how writer James DeMonaco expanded the scope of the series and its mythology over the course of the sequels.

In 2014, a totalitarian political group called The New Founding Fathers are voted into office and create an event known as The Purge. For twelve hours a year, essentially all crime is legal. This is the way in which they allow society to psychologically purge itself of the violence within – or at least, that is how the evening’s activities are justified. In 2022, crime is at an all time low. Poverty has decreased and the economy is booming. Security systems salesman James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) returns to his humongous house in his gated neighborhood that he has paid for by selling upgraded security systems to the wealthiest patrons, including his neighbors. His wife Mary (Lena Headey) speaks with a neighbor named Grace who alludes to some jealousy over the most recent expansion that they Mary and James have completed on their house. Teenage daughter Zoey (Adelaide Kane) makes out with her slightly older boyfriend Henry (Tony Oller) in her bedroom before escorting him out her window before the purge commences. The youngest child Charlie (Max Burkholder) plays with a remote controlled video camera device he has made that is attached to wheels and a baby doll head. He can view through the camera using his VR glasses. The family sits down for a brief dinner as they nervously await the annual purge. As the purge commences, a large siren wails and the house goes onto lockdown. The security system is activated and metal dividers come down to block the entrances and windows to the house. James looks at the security cameras for a few moments and comments on the activities of his nearby neighbors. Some neighbors walk the street with some weaponry and some neighbors are attending a party at Grace’s house. James also pulls out a few guns out of his gun safe, just in case. When Zoey returns to her bedroom, her boyfriend startles her. He explains that he has come to talk to her dad and sort things out man to man in regards to her father’s disapproval of their relationship. Meanwhile, a black homeless man (Edwin Hodge) appears on the outdoor cameras in the middle of the street bleeding and screaming for help. Seeing this inadvertently while playing with his remote controlled camera, Charlie opens up the security system just long enough for the bleeding man to enter their house. He has a knife. James runs with a handgun to the doorway to intercept the stranger. At the same time, Henry comes down the stairs and begins to shoot at James. James fires back and shoots Henry. The stranger disappears into their house during the scuffle. While the family tries to figure out their next moves with a stranger in their home, another stranger arrives at their doorstep. Dressed in preppy clothes and smiling, the stranger (Rhys Wakefield) explains that he is upper class just like them and that he and his friends – all wearing masks and brandishing weapons – had planned to complete their ritualistic purging by eliminating the homeless “pig” within their house. The polite leader explains that if the Sandins do not hand over the bleeding man alive to be purged by them, they will break into their home and kill everyone inside.

The first film in the series is a home invasion thriller that owes as much to John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 as it owes to The Strangers. This makes good sense when you consider that DeMonaco and Hawke had first paired up in DeMonaco’s fairly effective remake of Assault on Precinct 13. The similarities to Assault arise from the plot revolving around a building being besieged by armed and deadly killers who are seeking to murder someone that is held inside. That said, the film owes more to to the elements that made The Strangers successful with its reliance on masked killers and home invasion induced suspense. The difference lies in the dark satirical elements that underly the script.

The film was largely dismissed by critics who seemed to take issue with the overall premise of the film, but audiences largely responded favorably to the film. As a filmgoer and film reviewer, I think it is important to try to judge a film based on whether or not it achieves its goal. In the case of The Purge, the film uses a ridiculous but interesting science fiction conceit to develop a well paced thriller and to examine issues of classism in our society. The fact that reviewers became totally hung up on the idea of the likelihood of a Purge style event actually happening in America feels a little bit ridiculous to my way of thinking. If you don’t at all approve of watching a movie featuring the simple concept at the core of the series, why would you take the time to watch it? I feel like the waste of time they felt like they had incurred was totally on them. I enjoyed the film for what it was instead of hating it for what it wasn’t.

The Purge is elevated by solid casting choices for the two lead roles. Ethan Hawke is a reliably good actor and he sells the fear that would be felt by a parent with a family in peril. I respect that Ethan Hawke seems to choose projects based solely on what he would enjoy watching. Lena Headey – best known for her role as Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones – is great in the movie. I loved her acting on the show and she is just as good in the role of Mary. Rhys Wakefield inhabits the role of the villain well and chews the scenery admirably as a deranged young Turk. Edwin Hodge does well in the role of the bleeding stranger.

The writing for The Purge is not totally above reproach. The little remote control camera thing that Charlie drives is unnecessary. Some of the dialogue in the film is a little stiff, but most of it works. Aside from those aspects, the film is largely successful. Like any good home invasion thriller, the movie is incredibly claustrophobic and the tension is palpable. The film’s writing has a political edge to it which allows it to take some shots at the 1% and house its observations on moral bankruptcy within the context of the film. It is important to place the time that this film was made as occurring as the nation fixated on the occupy Wall Street movement. The film has a dark sense of humor that appealed to me and helped to mask some of the more ridiculous moments in the film. The film is also very short at 85 minutes, which allows the pace to never slow down.

Overall – I definitely enjoyed The Purge, and after I watched it I was ready to check out the sequel.

Video

The Purge arrives onto Blu-ray with a good looking looking 1080p presentation featuring a MPEG-4 AVC encode in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This film was shot digitally by cinematographer Jacques Joufrette on an Arri Alexa camera. Like most digitally shot films at that time, the transfer looks sharp but it also doesn’t stand out very much visually from other horror films from that time. Fine detail is solid. Over the course of the next couple pictures Joufrette’s cinematography became more impressive and interesting, but the original is more reserved and restricted. Though this disc appeared originally in 2014, the film’s cinematography and overall look does not strike me as needing an upgrade to 4K.

Audio

The Purge features an engaging DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track. The surrounds are used effectively and loudly at times. Like many horror/thrillers, this film goes from quiet to loud frequently with a few jump scares and loud action sequences along the way. The track is clear and dialogue is easy to discern. It is a well made track overall.

 Supplements:

• “Surviving the Night: The Making of The Purge” – this is a short (nine minute) piece on the making of the film.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements- 1/5

Overall – 4/5

The Purge is an enjoyable thriller with an interesting core concept. The film’s script is not without a few hiccups, but for the most part screenwriter and director James DeMonaco delivers an intense home invasion thriller which cleverly makes us of its characters and location. The performances by Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey elevate the film and make the characters feel more realistic. The dark sense of humor and clever (if a bit on-the-nose) vision of the worst aspects of the 1% also helps the film stand out. Critics seemed all too ready to throw stones at the film for achieving what it had set out to achieve, but audiences responded to the unique concept of the film. I liked The Purge, and it made me excited to see how the sequel would explore DeMonaco’s alternate reality further. Fans of the film will enjoy the technical presentation on the Blu-ray, but they may be slightly disappointed by the lack of supplemental features.