The Purge (2013 film)

For other uses, see Purge (disambiguation).

The Purge
File:The Purge poster.jpg Theatrical release poster (Hospitality Services version)
Directed by	James DeMonaco
Written by	James DeMonaco
Produced by	Jason Blum Sébastien K. Lemercier Michael Bay Andrew Form Bradley Fuller
Starring	Ethan Hawke Lena Headey Adelaide Kane Max Burkholder
Cinematography	Jacques Jouffret
Edited by	Peter Gvozdas
Music by	Nathan Whitehead
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	May 2, 2013 (2013-05-02) (Stanley Film Festival) June 7, 2013 (2013-06-07) (United States)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million
Box office	$89.3 million

The Purge is a 2013 American social science fiction horror thriller film written and directed by James DeMonaco. It stars Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Adelaide Kane and Max Burkholder. It is the first installment in DeMonaco's Purge film series.

Despite mixed reviews, the film was commercially successful, grossing $89,328,627 during its run, far surpassing its $3 million budget. It was the lowest budget film to hit the top of the box office charts in 25 years before its release. A sequel, titled The Purge: Anarchy, was released worldwide on July 18, 2014 to even greater success.

About The Purge event

In the early 2020s, "The New Founding Fathers of America" have established a new totalitarian government and a police state, following economic collapse. Using the 28th amendment of the U.S Constitution, the government has established one night a year - called "The Purge", which occurs on March 21 to 22, in which all crime is legal and all police, fire, and medical emergency services remain unavailable for 12 hours from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next day. The only rules are that no government officials with authorization levels of 10 and higher are to be disturbed and all weapons above Class 4 (explosive devices such as grenades, rocket launchers, bazookas, etc.) are forbidden. Anyone who violates the rules of the Purge would be publicly executed by hanging. The purge has resulted in crime and unemployment rates plummeting to 1% and a strong economy. Although it is thought to be used as an act of catharsis for the U.S. populace, in reality, it is used as a method of artificial population control as the unemployed poor in slum neighborhoods are usually the main targets.

Plot

On March 21, 2022, one hour before the annual Purge commences, James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) returns to his home in an affluent Los Angeles suburb to wait out the night with his wife Mary (Lena Headey) and their two children, Zoey (Adelaide Kane) and Charlie (Max Burkholder). James is the top salesman for elaborate security systems designed specifically for Purge night, and the family is assured that the security system manufactured by James' company will keep them safe. Their neighbors attribute the size and fittings of the newly extended Sandins' house to his success in local promotion.

While the family awaits the 7 p.m. sirens which will announce the start of the Purge, Zoey sees her boyfriend Henry (Tony Oller), an older boy whom James dislikes. James enables the security system, which includes a surveillance camera monitoring system and metal plating that seals the doors and windows. The Purge begins, and the family disperses in their home to go about their normal routine.

Zoey returns to her room to find Henry snuck back in before the security system was engaged, and says he plans to confront her dad 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 (Edwin Hodge) into the house. James races to re-engage the system and holds the man at gunpoint as Henry comes downstairs and pulls a gun on James. Henry fires at James and misses, but James fires back, mortally wounding Henry. During the chaos, the man disappears and hides. Henry makes his way back to Zoey's room before dying and she takes his gun. James takes Mary and Charlie back to the security control room.

As James scolds Charlie, they witness a group of young adults who are wielding guns and wearing masks approach the house. Their leader (Rhys Wakefield) unmasks himself and issues an ultimatum: that if they don't surrender the man within an hour, they will break into the house and kill everyone, including Charlie and Zoey. As the gang cuts the house's power, James is forced to admit that the security systems are only meant as a deterrent and would not actually protect them against a forceful invasion. He and Mary go off to find the man, intent on turning him over, while Charlie uses a remote-controlled toy car to find him and lure him to a secret hiding space.

Zoey finds Charlie's toy car and speaks to the camera as she knows Charlie is watching, and tells him that she will hide in his secret hiding place. The man takes her hostage, but James and Mary subdue him. The family realizes that they are no better than the gang that is waiting outside, and they decide not to turn the man over but to fight back instead.

With their deadline having passed, the gang uses a truck to rip the metal plating off the front door and enter the house. James kills several of them before he himself is fatally stabbed by the leader. Just as the gang is about to kill Mary, several of the family's neighbors, led by the Ferrins, arrive and kill most of the Purger gang. The leader attacks the family, but Zoey steps out from a hallway and shoots him dead, running over to James, apologizing for having Henry as her boyfriend.

Mary thanks the neighbors for their support, but one of the neighbors says to Mary "Don't thank us too much, Mary. The truth is, you're ours, not theirs." This reveals that the neighbors have come to kill the Sandins because they are jealous of the family's wealth and social state while not wanting the masked gang to do the job. They tie Mary, Charlie and Zoey up with duct tape, pulling them out into the hallway to shoot them. While the neighbors are saying a prayer, Charlie notices the toy car move across the floor.

Suddenly, the man that Charlie allowed into the house earlier, appears, takes one of the neighbors hostage and kills another neighbor by shooting him to death with a 9mm he used to kill a previous member of the Purging gang. He holds the gun at the remaining neighbors and threatens to kill them if they don't untie the Sandins, which they do without hesitation. The man gives Mary the opportunity of retribution by allowing her a chance to murder the neighbors, but Mary spares them, deciding she has seen enough killing for the night. Mary places a shotgun on the coffee table, and waits in the living room with the remaining neighbors.

As dawn arrives (just before the purge is about to end), Grace Ferrin (Arija Bareikis) attempts to grab Mary's gun off the table, but Mary uses the stock of the gun and hits her in the face then breaks her nose by slamming her face on the table, strictly reminding her there won't be any more killing for the remainder of the time. The sirens go off, announcing the end of The Annual Purge. The neighbors leave for their own homes. After the man leaves, Mary, Zoey and Charlie wait and watch as emergency services come to retrieve the dead.

During the credits, news reports state this year's Purge is the most successful Purge to date.

Cast

• Ethan Hawke as James Sandin
• Lena Headey as Mary Sandin
• Adelaide Kane as Zoey Sandin
• Max Burkholder as Charlie Sandin
• Edwin Hodge as The Stranger
• Tony Oller as Henry
• Arija Bareikis as Grace Ferrin
• Dana Bunch as Mr. Ferrin
• Chris Mulkey as Mr. Halverson
• Tisha French as Mrs. Halverson
• Tom Yi as Mr. Cali
• Rhys Wakefield as Polite Leader-1
• John Weselcouch as Interrupting Purger-2
• Alicia Vela-Bailey as Female Purger-3
• Aaron Kuban as Purger-4
• Boima Blake as Purger-5
• Nathan Clarkson as Purger-6
• Chester Lockhart as Purger-7
• Tyler Osterkamp as Purger-8
• RJ Wolfe as Purger-9
• Trazariah Shells as Purger-10
• Karen Strassman as Newscaster (uncredited)

Release

The film premiered at the Stanley Film Festival on May 2, 2013 and released in cinemas on 31 May 2013 & 7 June 2013 in the United States.

Home media

The Purge was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 8, 2013.

Reception

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes records a rating of 38% based on 135 reviews for The Purge, with a weighted average of 5.1/10, with the site's consensus stating, "Half social allegory, half home-invasion thriller, The Purge attempts to use thriller formula to make an intelligent point—but ultimately only ends up sinking in numbing violence and tired cliches." The film holds a score of 41 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 33 critics, signifying "mixed or average reviews".

On io9, Charlie Jane Anders described it as "a clunky and implausible political screed in movie form." Entertainment Weekly gave The Purge a B−, saying that it "clearly has a lot on its mind, but it never really manages to express it."

Box office

In its opening weekend, The Purge topped the box office with $16.8 million on opening day and $34.1 million through the entire weekend. The film has collected $64,473,115 domestically and $24,855,512 outside the United States, for a total of $89,328,627 worldwide, with a production budget of $3 million.

Sequels

Main article: The Purge: Anarchy

Due to the success of the first film, a sequel, The Purge: Anarchy, was developed by Universal and Blumhouse. It was released worldwide on July 18, 2014. Set in 2023, a year after the film. Edwin Hodge (The Stranger) was the only cast member to reprise a role.

A third film, The Purge: Election Year, is to be released in July 2016.

Legacy

The film was the theme for a scare zone in the 2013 edition of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. It was also used as a theme for a scare zone in the 2014 edition of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Orlando. It was recently announced to be used for the 2015 edition house.

In July 2014 the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre produced the play, Seinfeld: The Purge, which parodied both Seinfeld and The Purge. The play, which was written by John Ford and directed by Justin Donaldson, focused on what each Seinfeld character would do during a purge; for example, George tries to kill a former friend from the Seinfeld episode "The Couch". Horror news website Bloody Disgusting gave the play "four skulls" and praised the show for its acting and storyline.

Social media posts by Baltimore High School students on April 27, 2015, during the 2015 Baltimore Riots referenced the film.

The Purge film itself and the concept of it were referenced numerous times during episode 9 of season 2 of the animated show Rick and Morty, where the two titular characters become trapped on a 'purge world'.

See also

• Crypteia, an annual event during which members of the ruling class of Sparta were permitted to kill members of the subjugated helot population without incurring criminal or civil liability.
• List of films featuring home invasions
• "The Return of the Archons", a 1967 episode of Star Trek in which an otherwise placid society is allowed pre-scheduled 12-hour periods of lawlessness and violence.
• Madeinusa, a 2005 film about a village that believes it is impossible to sin from Good Friday to Easter.
• The Powerpuff Girls episode, Bought and Scold, also featured the concept of legalizing crime.
• "Look Who's Purging Now" (season 2, episode 9) of the sci-fi comedy series Rick and Morty centers around a planet during a purge.

External links

• Official website
• Official website at Blumhouse Productions' website
• The Purge at IMDb
• The Purge at Box Office Mojo
• The Purge at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Purge at Metacritic
• The Purge at AllMovie by Jason Buchanan
• The Purge at the Internet Movie Firearms Database
• The Purge at FilmFracture