I don’t think any film franchise has surprised me as much as The Purge has.
Writer/Director James DeMonaco’s 2013 sci-fi horror film had an interesting concept, America now run by a totalitarian government and a police state has one night a year called “The Purge” where for 12 hours all crime, including murder, is legal. The only rules being certain weapons like explosives are not allowed and Government officials of a certain level are not allowed to be targeted.
Despite the interesting premise the first film failed to really capitalise on its ideas but due to its popularity The Purge: Anarchy followed and this was a distinctly different affair. The great Frank Grillo essentially playing an analogue of The Punisher in a film with some viciously brutal social political commentary about America as he discovers that The Purge is really just a way for the government to cull the poor, the homeless and other undesirables.
Now DeMonaco is back and Purge fans will no doubt be happy to see that the first trailer shows Grillo is back as the nameless Sergeant in The Purge: Election Year which looks set to be just as vicious as the previous film in its commentary as well as its action.