The Purge (2013) | 31 Days of Horror: Oct 27

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This is not what Marie Kondo had in mind.

Celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year, The Purge is a tense thriller that hits a little close to home about the future, and present, of America. It asks some impossible questions about personal safety versus the greater good as well as describing how close the country is to a moral precipice.

Before Viewing

This trailer informs the audience that America is prospering due to all crime being legal one night a year. A man locks his family into their mansion to protect them, but the son lets a stranger inside who was calling for help. A number of other people show up looking for the man and break in to get him. It looks like an intense and thrilling home invasion scenario. Shall we start The Purge?

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

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After Viewing

A couple of introductory screens let audiences know that America is prospering. Unemployment is at 1%. Crime is at an all-time low. All thanks to The Purge, which happens for 12 hours on March 21. During this time all crime is legal, and people can kill whomever they want. The film takes place in 2022. James Sandin (Ethan Hawke), a seller of security systems, drives home from work. His wife Mary (Lena Headey) prepares dinner while son Charlie (Max Burkholder) plays with a remote controlled robot he has built. Daughter Zoey (Adelaide Kane) is in her room with her boyfriend Henry (Tony Oller), who James does not approve of.

Just before 7pm James initiates the lockdown of the large mansion, which includes barricades over all the windows, alarms, and video cameras. Zoey returns upstairs to find Henry did not leave as she thought. He wants to stay and talk with James about his relationship with Zoey. Charlie notices on the video feeds a bloodied black man (Edwin Hodge) shouting for someone to help him. Charlie opens the security gates enough to allow the man inside. James is shocked to see someone else inside his sanctuary, but is even more surprised by Henry shooting at him with a gun. James returns fire and kills the boy. The stranger disappears inside the labyrinthian house.

Soon a group of young purgers, led by an enigmatic and polite young man (Rhys Wakefield) show up in front of the Sandin house asking for the man back. If their demands aren’t met by the time their gear shows up, they will come in by force. While James searches all over for the man, Charlie uses his robot to show the man where a secret hidey-hole is in the back of his closet. Zoey, who has been hiding from the family as well–distraught at the killing of her boyfriend, sees Charlie’s robot and tells it she has a gun and will be hiding in Charlie’s closet.

The man takes Zoey hostage, but in a tense stand-off he is distracted and knocked out. James and Mary tie him up and plan to turn him over. James’ behavior in particular scares Zoey and he changes his mind. The Purgers break in and Charlie hides in the basement. Mary and James take guns and protect different parts of the house. James manages to kill three invaders in the game room, but the polite Purger stabs him in the gut with a knife.

Mary is attacked by a boy and a girl who tickle her. As they are about to stab her they are shot by some of the neighbors, who saw the disturbance. Grace (Arija Bareikis) and her husband, plus three other neighbors shoot the remaining Purgers outside. A dying James crawls to the foyer where Mary and Charlie meet him. The polite Purger is about to shoot them, but Zoey comes out of nowhere and shoots him first. The neighbors take everyone’s weapons as James finally dies.

Grace tells Mary that it’s her prerogative to kill the Sandins, not some random invaders. Grace is upset that the Sandin’s money comes from selling the neighbors’ security systems. Just as the neighbors are about to execute the Sandins, the bloody man returns and saves them. Grace believes that Mary will kill them, but she vows no more killing in the house this night. A few minutes before The Purge ends at 7am, Grace attempts to grab Mary’s shotgun. Mary smashes her face and then tells them to get out. She thanks the stranger who also leaves. A series of voice overs from the news indicate that this was the most successful Purge ever.

“Nothing is ever going to be okay again.” – Zoey

The Purge comes very close to being a science-fiction film, presenting a future dystopia in which murder is legally sanctioned for 12 hours one night every year. Ten years ago, when the film was released, filmmakers seemed to know where the world was headed, imagining such a world nine years in their future. But with the political divisiveness over the past decade, protests, riots, school shootings, and other civil unrest, the film doesn’t feel that far off from happening. The parable here is apparently showcasing the loss of humanity that a Purge would create. While the film depicts an absurdly low unemployment rate along with virtually zero crime, it also seems to ask what else would America lose by adopting the ability to socially sanctioned killing?

These questions are asked by Charlie, the Sandin’s youngest son. He stresses about the news reports on television talking about the Purge and worries about the safety of his family, like many young people might when hearing snippets of news about unrest in the world. He asks his parents point-blank if they would kill someone tonight if they felt the need to. James says they would, because he believes in the system and knows that it works. Mary is not so certain. But when push comes to shove James realizes that he cannot, in good conscience, carry through with that pledge. Having to look a person in the eye before sentencing them to their death is a lot easier said than done. Mary, on the other hand, seems to find her spirit toward the end of the film when her family is threatened. There appears to be no doubt that if she was pushed by Grace, she would have killed her. It may be that Mary chose not to kill as a lesson for her children. This is a reminder that the system is made up of people like the Sandin’s.

The Purge asks the impossible questions, like Would You Rather did earlier in the month. How far is too far to go? And what is the cost of personal values versus personal safety? Charlie is naive, but also has a loving soul. He talks at dinner about a story he wrote about a man whose love was so powerful it killed people, so the man cut his own heart out. A story about personal sacrifice to protect the greater good. James believes that once he traps the stranger in his house, he can easily set him outside for the younger Purgers to consume without any repercussions. And while that move might have saved his house from being broken into (and saved his life) what would the cost have been? Are there disposable members of the society? Are poor people worth less than rich people? Black people worth less than white people? All questions that The Purge, the film, asks its viewers. It creates a world in which the elite have to confront the policies they have put in place, which normally do not affect them. James sees this reality and pays with his life. Mary understands this reality too, when confronted by her neighbors who shock her by admitting they killed the non-neighborhood Purgers because the Sandin’s are the neighborhood’s responsibility. Classism within the estates of the rich and powerful is as ugly as it is in the slums.

The main theme of the film is hammered home in the final lines of the film, played out over the credits. Various voices (news reporters) proclaim the most successful Purge ever. But the final words of the film are from an unnamed father that was a self-identified proud American. He says he lost two boys during the Purge and now is no longer proud. His country “has taken everything” from him. Here too is another person that backed the efforts of the political system, the New Founding Fathers as they are called. But upon feeling the burden of those efforts now has a change of heart. The Purge is not just about political sides, as the rhetoric or laws enacted by any side could be just as burdensome. What it does appear to promote is participation in the decisions of the country, knowing that there is always an effect. And that backing policies without full understanding can lead to unintended consequences. Those that purport to be above the law, or at least above being involved in the Purge, might find themselves held accountable by the very people the stepped onto get where they are.

The past decade has been a strong one for The Purge franchise. There have been two sequels, The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year. Then a prequel, The First Purge, followed by another sequel The Forever Purge, with a potential sixth film on the way. A two season, 20 episode television show was also produced, leading to many more adventures in this branched timeline for America. If The Purge, and its sequels teach viewers anything, it’s that violence only begets more violence. Fictional news reports in the film mention the “country-wide catharsis [of the Purge] creates psychological stability.” But so does pottery. And individual psychological stability creates for a better country, not the other way around. Remember to just vote “no,” on the Purge if it ever gets on the ballot. The life you save may be your own.

Assorted Musings

• There seems to be a bit of a fake out with Charlie’s medical problem, or perhaps something that was cut. At dinner he remembers that he has to record his vitals which include his heart rate. It seems like this might factor into the “suspension of medical services,” but there’s no call back to this whatsoever.
• The “bloody stranger” as listed in the credits appears in the next two Purge films, receiving the name Dante Bishop in The Purge: Election Year.
• The film depicts both Charlie and his sister Zoey with similar looks. Both wear white shirts and have longer black hair. This comes off slightly confusing as the characters move from room to room, leading to confusion about who is who. But that may have been done on purpose to heighten the tension.