The Purge

Dir: James DeMonaco

2013

***

James DeMonaco's 2013 horror The Purge had quite an impact. Its three million dollar budget turned over nearly 90 million in profit. That's pretty impressive considering how simple it is. DeMonaco has clearly found a winning formula and knows what people react to. I think The Purge works as well as it does for several reasons. Firstly, 'home invasion' horrors are always popular, whether it be zombies or ghost seeking access, when a family have to defend themselves within an environment everyone should feel safe in, it gives people the intensity, chills and the heebie-jeebies they want from a thriller/horror. Secondly, horror film makers are becoming increasingly aware that the scariest thing on this planet are human beings. When human beings become unhinged, are pushed to the limit or being indoctrinated, they can be far scarier than anything mythical, supernatural or fictional. Scarier still, some humans are just bad without reason. DeMonaco's simple premise in The Purge is that in 2022, after years of mass violence, unemployment and recession, the USA has established a totalitarian government, a police state, led by the mysterious 'New Founding Fathers of America'. The idea is that the governing New Founding Fathers have brought in a 28th amendment to the US constitution, stating that once a year, for twelve hours, serious crime such as assault, theft, arson, rape and murder is legal and the emergency services are unavailable during this time. Using questionable psychological analysis (hinted at very briefly in the film) it is suggested that the annual release of man's natural rage is a positive thing, a purge of negativity. This purge is disguised as something symbolic and patriotic and society is generally won over by it due to its impressive results. It's never really explained, I'm sure it will be within the sequels, but there are suggestions throughout that although the purge is seen as an act of catharsis for society, it is in reality a method of population control by the ruling elite, who sit back and essentially make the poor, those that contribute nothing to the nation’s economy, kill each other. Not such a ridiculous notion when you remember that this was actually a thing in the civilized ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy. DeMonaco isn't just using humans as a realistic bad guy, he's using humans who have been brainwashed by the uprising of the far right, a very real thing in the modern world we live in, and the stuff of classic Dystopian literature. When you look at the terrible atrocities that happen in this day and age and that happened in the recent past around the globe, this really isn't an unfeasible idea. That is what makes it a scary film. DeMonaco was a producer on the 2005 Assault on Precinct 13 remake, the John Carpenter influence is very clear but take away the clever political idea and you are left with a relatively average 'home invasion' horror that has all the same clichés as the others, that is until the brilliant conclusion. The idea and the last scene are absolutely fantastic and just what the horror genre needed, it's just a shame that the majority of the film is a bit colour-by-numbers.