The Purge: Election Year offered up a rather conclusive ending to James DeMonaco's dystopian
film trilogy, but he still isn't done scaring the pants off anyone with a finger on the
political pulse just yet.
For its fourth outing, The Purge series is heading back in time to the very first Purge
event staged by the New Founding Fathers of America to show how such a brutal holiday
became a part of society to begin with.
The First Purge will arrive in theaters on Independence Day 2018, and the film is expected
to be very direct with its real-life socio-political parallels while still offering a bloody good
time at the theater.
Here's what you need to know about The First Purge before heading out for the next round
of mayhem.
Contained mayhem
Whereas the original Purge trilogy took place long after the annual night of terror overtook
the entire United States, The First Purge will focus solely on Staten Island in New
York.
That setting has been chosen to serve as the host of the inaugural evening of violence,
at a time when people are still unprepared for the levels of depravity it will unleash.
From the trailers, it is clear that certain members of the neighborhood will stand in
vocal resistance to the concept of the Purge.
However, as we already know from the first three films, their efforts will ultimately
fail to stop the spread of violence and in fact, the efforts of the marginalized to demand
justice might just be part of the reason the tradition takes hold of the rest of the nation
in the first place.
"Your government thanks you for your participation."
Spectator sport
In the film, we'll meet the woman who creates the experimental night of lawlessness, and
she seems to think her terrible test is going to satisfy the bloodlust of everybody in America.
"If we want to save our country we must release all our anger in one night."
However, many of this Purge's participants will have to be bribed into sticking around,
which means most of them are from a very vulnerable sector of society.
As DeMonaco told Vulture:
"What they do is start promising very decent sums of money for the very poor people in
the neighborhood.
It becomes a monetization of murder and violence, incentivizing killing and keeping people around
for them to be victims."
The trailer also hints that ex-military members will be hired to enter the experiment and
slaughter people to help amplify the entertainment for audiences tuning in.
So, there might not be enough people itching to maim each other before the big guns start
stepping in.
Real-life parallels
In 2016's Election Year, there were some unintentional, albeit eerie, overlaps with current events,
including the similarities between Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign
slogan and the film's own "Keep America Great" tagline.
With The First Purge, however, the parallels are no longer accidental.
The first poster made that clear from the start, depicting a simple red ball cap bearing
the film's title and a striking resemblance to Trump's signature hats.
The movie is also expected to use similar language and cultural anxieties as those related
to the current administration, including having one of the key motives of the NFFA being "a
dying economy."
Sound familiar?
Surprising inspiration
Frank Grillo's Leo Barnes, also known as "The Sergeant," and Edwin Hodge's Dante Bishop
may have arrived as hesitant heroes over the course of the first three Purge films.
But this time around, DeMonaco isn't pulling any punches when it comes to who's leading
the good guys.
Y'lan Noel's character, William, is shown in the trailer gathering the neighborhood
troops to rebel against the Purge - and he seems to have some well-developed fighting
skills.
According to DeMonaco, the character is an anti-hero who was originally inspired by Clint
Eastwood's role in Unforgiven: Will Munny.
Munny was a former assassin who was recruited to serve up some vigilante justice and proved
to be effective at taking lives, so we should expect some pretty badass fight scenes ahead.
Fresh blood
DeMonaco wrote and directed all three of the original Purge films, but this time, he's
taking a back seat to allow a new director to guide the franchise.
The script is still his creation, but The First Purge is being helmed by relative newcomer
Gerard McMurray, whose Sundance debut Burning Sands caught DeMonaco's eye.
It was one of McMurray's real-life experiences that helped him get the gig, though.
As DeMonaco told Vulture:
"He lived through [Hurricane] Katrina, and Katrina was one of the early influences on
The Purge itself when I saw the treatment of the people in the Ninth Ward by the government.
[…] So we met with Gerard, it was just the perfect fit."
Even before hiring McMurray, DeMonaco knew he wanted to feature a predominantly black
cast in the film, as it's been important to him since the second installment to put people
of color at the center of his films.
As he explained:
"We always talk about how the only way to change the system is to make successful things
with a black lead or female lead.
It's the only way to do it.
At first we were saying, it's not a race movie, it's more about class.
But ultimately race is class."
The subject of socioeconomic disparity seems to be front and center of the newest Purge
film, but for those who aren't so interested in the message, the film might still be for
you because…
Thrills and chills
There's no doubt that DeMonaco and the rest of The First Purge's creators made a movie
with a political point.
Even the inclusion of real-life CNN host Van Jones on the cast makes for a very meta moment
of questioning the tactics of government.
However, for those who've tuned out the 24-hour news cycle and want a plain old popcorn-and-gore
theatrical experience, there's plenty of that as well.
As DeMonaco promised:
"The people who want to can see the parallels to our society and the reflection upon our
government and talk about that after the movie, or they can watch it as just a real fun, kick-ass
action-horror film."
So, it sounds like there'll be a little something scary for everyone when The First Purge lands
in theaters this July 4th, 2018.
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