''The Purge'' is a 2013 American

dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

action horror film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...

written and directed by

James DeMonaco James DeMonaco (born October 12, 1969) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is best known for creating the ''Purge'' franchise, writing all five films in the series and directing the first three, ''The Purge'' (2013), ''Anarc ...

. The film stars

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...

Lena Headey Lena Kathren Headey ( ; born 3 October 1973) is a British actress. She gained international recognition and acclaim for her portrayal of Cersei Lannister on the HBO epic fantasy drama series '' Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which she re ...

Adelaide Kane Adelaide Victoria Kane (born 9 August 1990) is an Australian actress and model. She first gained recognition for her roles as Lolly Allen in the soap opera ''Neighbours'' and Tenaya 7 (later Tenaya 15) in the children's series ''Power Rangers RP ...

, and

Max Burkholder Maxwell Henry Wolf Burkholder (born November 1, 1997) is an American actor most notable for his role as Max Braverman in the comedic television drama on NBC, '' Parenthood''. Prior to that, he became known as a voice actor for his roles as Chom ...

as members of a wealthy family who find themselves endangered by a gang of murderers during the annual Purge, a night during which all crime, including murder, is temporarily legal. ''The Purge'' premiered at the

Stanley Film Festival Stanley Film Festival was a horror film festival located in Estes Park, Colorado. Founded in 2013, the festival showcased independent horror films, including features, shorts and special events with guest filmmakers. The festival was named for the ...

on May 7, 2013, and

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

theatrically released it in the United States on June 7, 2013. The film grossed $89 million against a $3 million budget. It is the first installment in the ''Purge'' franchise. A sequel, subtitled ''

Anarchy Anarchy is a society without a government. It may also refer to a society or group of people that entirely rejects a set hierarchy. ''Anarchy'' was first used in English in 1539, meaning "an absence of government". Pierre-Joseph Proudhon adopted ...

'', was released worldwide on July 18, 2014. A third film, '' Election Year'', was released July 1, 2016, and a prequel, ''

The First Purge ''The First Purge'' is a 2018 American dystopian action horror film directed by Gerard McMurray and starring Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, and Steve Harris. Written and co-executive produced by James DeMonaco, it is the first film o ...

'', was released on July 4, 2018, and a television series, set between the second and third films, aired for two seasons from September 4, 2018, to December 17, 2019. A fifth film, ''

The Forever Purge ''The Forever Purge'' is a 2021 American dystopian action horror film directed by Everardo Valerio Gout and written by series creator James DeMonaco, who also produced along with Jason Blum and Michael Bay. Originally intended as the final instal ...

'', was released on July 2, 2021.

Plot

In 2014, a political party called the "New Founding Fathers of America" are voted into office following an

economic collapse Economic collapse, also called economic meltdown, is any of a broad range of bad economic conditions, ranging from a severe, prolonged depression with high bankruptcy rates and high unemployment (such as the Great Depression of the 1930s), to a ...

, and pass a law sanctioning the "Purge", an annual event wherein all crime is legal and emergency services are temporarily suspended. By 2022, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

is said to have become virtually crime-free, with legal unemployment rates having dropped to 1%. James Sandin returns to his home in an affluent

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

gated community A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences ...

to wait out the Purge with his wife Mary and their children, Zoey and Charlie. The family is assured the security system manufactured by James' company will keep them safe, while Zoey meets her boyfriend Henry. As the year's Purge begins, James enables the security system and the family disperses to go about their normal routines. Zoey returns to her room and finds Henry, who had snuck in before the security system was engaged, planning on confronting her father 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 inside, but James races to re-engage the system and holds the man at gunpoint. Henry comes downstairs and points a pistol at James and opens fire, but then James returns fire and mortally wounds Henry. During the chaos, the stranger disappears. Through the surveillance cameras, the family sees a gang of masked, heavily armed people arriving at the front lawn. The leader demands the homeless man, warning that failure to comply will result in an invasion. When Mary asks about the security system, James admits it is incapable of withstanding a determined assault. The family find and capture the stranger to give him to the gang, only to realize that they would not be any better off if they did and choose to defend him and themselves. After the deadline passes, the gang breaks into the house. James fights back and kills several of them before the leader stabs him. Charlie notices the neighbors leaving their homes on the monitors before the neighbors enter and kill the remaining gang members. Mary is ambushed by two of the Purgers and gets restrained, but the neighbors save her. The leader attempts to kill the family, but is killed by Zoey while James dies from his injuries. Mary starts to thank the neighbors for saving them, but their leader, Grace Ferrin, reveals her group's hatred for the Sandins due to their wealth being acquired at the neighbors' expense. They capture the Sandins and prepare to kill them, but the stranger returns, kills one of the neighbors, and holds Grace hostage to force them to free the Sandins. Mary stops him from killing the remaining neighbors, deciding that they will all peacefully wait out the remainder of the Purge. The next morning, Grace attempts to seize control, but Mary wounds her in retaliation. As sirens sound to signal the end of the Purge, she forces the neighbors to leave and thanks the stranger for his help. He bids the Sandins luck before leaving as well. Television news reports state this year's Purge was the most successful to date. Other stations report that the

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...

is booming due to the massive sales of weapons and security systems. A man’s voice speaks of the loss of his patriotism after the death of his sons the night before.

Cast

The Sandin family

as James Sandin *

as Mary Sandin *

as Charlie Sandin *

as Zoey Sandin

The Neighbors

Arija Bareikis Arija Allison Bareikis is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Officer Chickie Brown in the TV crime drama ''Southland''. She is also known for the films '' Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo'' and ''The Purge''. Early life and educa ...

as Grace Ferrin * Tom Yi as Mr. Cali *

Chris Mulkey Chris Mulkey (born May 3, 1948) is an American film and television actor. Career Mulkey played the supporting role of husband to Annie Potts's character in '' Any Day Now'' from 1998 to 2002. He has also appeared in '' Captain Phillips'', '' ...

as Mr. Halverson * Tisha French as Mrs. Halverson * Dana Bunch as Mr. Ferrin

The Purgers

Rhys Wakefield Rhys Wakefield is an Australian actor and director, known for his roles in Australian TV series ''Home and Away'', the feature film ''The Black Balloon'' (2008) and in season 3 of HBO's ''True Detective'' in 2019. Wakefield's debut feature f ...

as Polite Leader * John Weselcouch as Interrupting Freak Purger * Alicia Vela-Bailey as Blonde Female Freak Purger * Mickey Facchinello as Brunette Freak Purger * Boima Blake as Freak Purger * Nathan Clarkson as Freak Purger * Jesse Jacobs as Freak Purger * Aaron Kuban as Freak Purger * Chester Lockhart as Freak Purger * Tyler Osterkamp as Freak Purger * R. J. Wolfe as Freak Purger

Other characters

Edwin Hodge Edwin Martel Basil Hodge (born January 26, 1985) is an American actor. He is recognized for portraying Dante Bishop in ''The Purge'' film series, and is the only actor to appear in all of the first three films. Early life Hodge was born on Jan ...

as Bloody Stranger *

Tony Oller Anthony Michael Oller (born February 25, 1991) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He had roles as Walt Moore on the TeenNick TV show '' Gigantic'', and as Danny on Disney Channel's ''As the Bell Rings''. He appeared in the films ''Bene ...

as Henry * Peter Bzovdas as Dr. Peter Buynak *

Karen Strassman Karen Strassman (born June 5 is an American stage, television and voice actress who has provided English language voices for Japanese anime shows, animation, and video games. Some of her major roles are Kallen Stadtfeld in the ''Code Geass'' seri ...

as Newscaster *

Cindy Robinson Cindy Robinson is an American voice actress who voices in animations and video games. Some of her major roles are Makoto Nanaya and Gii from the ''Blazblue'' series, Betty Boop in commercials, Queen Beryl in '' Sailor Moon'', Chitose Nanbu in ...

as the Purge Emergency Broadcast System announcement voice (uncredited)

Release

The film premiered at the

on May 2, 2013, and released in cinemas on June 7, 2013, in the United States. ''The Purge'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

on October 8, 2013. A 4K UHD Blu-ray release occurred on June 12, 2018.

Reception

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 earned $64.5 million domestically and $24.9 million outside the United States, for a total of $89.3 million worldwide, with a production budget of $3 million.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports an approval rating of 39% based on 156 reviews and a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

of 5.20/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Half social allegory, half home-invasion thriller, ''The Purge'' attempts to make an intelligent point, but ultimately devolves into numbing violence and tired clichés." The film holds a score of 41 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, based on 33 critics, signifying "mixed or average reviews". On

io9 ''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...

Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders is an American writer and commentator. She has written several novels, published magazines and websites, and hosted podcasts. In 2005, she received the Lambda Literary Award for work in the transgender category, and in 2009, t ...

described it as "a clunky and implausible political screed in movie form". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' gave ''The Purge'' a B−, saying that it "clearly has a lot on its mind, but it never really manages to express it". In the ''

Tri-City Herald The ''Tri-City Herald'' is a daily newspaper based in Kennewick, Washington, United States. Owned by The McClatchy Company, the newspaper serves southeastern Washington state, including the three cities of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland (which ...

'', Gary Wolcott described the movie as " most the dumbest movie in history. My recommendation is purge ''The Purge'' from your weekend movie plans."

Sequels and prequel

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 and is set in 2023, a year after the first film.

(The Stranger), Tyler Osterkamp (The Freak), and Nathan Clarkson (The Purger) were the only cast members to reprise their role, while only Hodge was credited. A third film, '' The Purge: Election Year'', was released on July 1, 2016. A fourth film, ''

,'' which is set as a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

in the franchise, was released on July 4, 2018.

reprises his role as James Sandin in the opening scene of " 7:01am", the

series finale A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or ...

of ''The Purge'' television series. A fifth film, ''