Bad horror films come out all the time. The genre is well-known for producing low-budget pictures that don't necessarily scare as much as they cause the audience to laugh. I'm not above enjoying "bad" horror films. I wrote a favorable review for "The Last Exorcism II", a movie that was universally panned but that I enjoyed in all its silly small-budget goodness. I even somewhat enjoyed "No One Lives", a film I didn't review recently. It was pointless, stupid, and shoddily made but it had a few surprises. There is nothing surprising about "The Purge", a low-budget attempt at a high-concept horror film that is among the most frustrating and disappointing films I've ever seen. It takes an interesting idea and buries it in stupidly all well seemingly turning to the camera and saying "Do you get this metaphor? Aren't we clever?" It is a student film that somehow attracted slightly big-name talent. It is a great idea for a movie that is so completely and totally failed that you stare at the screen in disbelief while cliche after cliche is presented. The only crime that is truly committed during "The Purge" is how much of your time it wastes.
"The Purge" deals with the titular event and the impact it has on the characters in Miscellaneous Suburban Town, America. "The Purge" is a yearly event where all crime is legal for a 12-hour span. Since they have instituted this event, unemployment has dropped and everyone has seemed to profit. Few have profited more than James Sandin (Ethan Hawke), who has made a (ahem) killing off of selling home security systems. He lives in suburbia with his seemingly stay-at-home wife Mary (Lena Headey), rebellious teenage daughter Zoey (Adelaide Kane), and their Tim Burton-character younger son Charlie (Max Burkholder). They have all settled down for a night inside their protected fortress as The Purge begins. Outside, a man (Edwin Hodge) is screaming, bleeding, and begging to be let in. Charlie, who amazingly enough has the security code, lets the man in and he quickly disappears inside the house. Minutes later, a creepy man (Rhys Wakefield) appears at the doorstep saying that the Sandin family has taken in a "fugitive" and he and his group of murderers want him back or else they will find a way in. The family must decide what to do next: save this unknown man or save themselves.
The worst part about "The Purge" is that it is a wonderful concept for a film. Although it resembles a storyline from an original "Star Trek" episode, the idea of all crime being legal for a period of time brings up images of a John Carpenter-esque dystopian mess. The concept raises questions, not of if something like The Purge is actually a good event but how such an event would no doubt result in lower employment. The homeless and those who aren't rich enough to protect their homes would no doubt be killed off. "The Purge" is a wonderful idea for a short story or an hour long TV movie. Unfortunately, writer/director James DeMonaco, has completely failed the concept of this movie resulting in a stupid film that tries for cheap scares and completely fails at them. This is the type of movie where one scene contains a "There is someone behind a refrigerator door! Oh good! It is a false alarm" scare and the next tries to make a quasi-intelligent connection between race, poverty, and white privilege. It is a 90-minute trudge to a conclusion where nothing interesting occurs and you openly hope for the death of all characters involved.
There are enough "Are you kidding me?!" moments in "The Purge" for at least five other films. There are characters who are introduced, do crazy things, die and then are completely forgotten about. There are characters and character design that are stolen right out of 2008's "The Strangers". There are action scenes so haphazard and difficult to follow that you won't know or care what is happening. Low budget films often film these action scenes as close-ups in order to save on budget. Usually, you still have an idea of what is happening. "Low budget" doesn't mean your movie has to look cheap or be impossible to follow. "The Purge" does both of these things.
There is nothing fun about "The Purge". I'm not saying that horror films need to be "fun". There are plenty of dark films where you walk away shaken, thinking introspectively, and telling yourself that you will never watch them again. The events and questions that "The Purge" contains are not necessarily fun. There is no enjoyment in this film though. It isn't scary at all and relies on characters who we don't know attacking characters we don't care about in the dark. It contains characters who we really don't care if they live or die. It contains a villain who is not scary who does things that are so stereotypically villainous, and at times impossible, that we aren't scared of him. The film fails at every possible step of the way. The fact that the concept is so interesting makes it all the more disappointing and infuriating.
I can't recommend you ignore "The Purge" strongly enough. The audience I saw it with on opening night did not care about what they were seeing in the slightest. No one jumped. No one screamed. They simply watched it, got up, and left. There is no redeeming elements to this film. It is a complete failure and only receives a half-star because I didn't leave the theater before the movie finished and the concept is interesting enough that you might be able to re-write it into a better story. How do I end this review: "I'd like to purge this film from my memory"? "The Purge is pure vomit"? "The crimes committed by this movie should be illegal?" How about I just end it now?
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