I'm Going To See The New Purge Movie, But I Already Know I'm Going To Be Disappointed

So if you’ve been in the horror community online, you would know that a new Purge movie was reported to be in the works earlier this month. While I don’t consider it one of the best horror movies ever, I think that the first Purge movie was alright in its execution, and you could have done a lot with it. I am a fan of the franchise, but I also think I’m finally starting to feel the fatigue.

While we aren’t anywhere close to The Purge 6 (which was revealed by Bloody Disgusting) being released on the 2025 movie schedule, it’s something I’m thinking about for next year. I can’t help but know that I’m going to be disappointed. Why? Well, let’s get into it.

The First Purge Movie Was Hands Down The Best One

I feel like this is the case with many horror movies most of the time, but let’s be honest – the first is always the best. There are rare moments where, years down the line, a sequel can do just as well. However, at a certain point, you start to wonder why they’re even still making movies if not for a quick cash-grab, like all those Friday the 13th movies.

But with The Purge, this one felt the most grounded and realistic, and I think that’s why I believe it’s the best. Like many of the other Purge movies, which we’ll discuss in a bit, this one often didn’t feel nearly as believable. The first entry, however, felt like how it might happen in real life if a purge were to exist, which made it even scarier and more unnerving.

Could it have been better? Of course. There was so much room for growth, and I think some of the twists and turns could have been better perfected – maybe the violence could have been upped just a tab. But it’s at least watchable and a fun movie to revisit on a Saturday night with your friends.

The Rest Have Been Either Subpar Or Just Downright Bad

That’s where it ends, though. The rest of these films aren’t that great, and I stand by that. I really think there are moments of brightness that shine through, but most of the time, it feels… just okay.

There’s a lot I could break down about it. The first thing I want to mention is the acting. Now, I don’t personally think The Purge is one of Ethan Hawke’s best films (like some other staff members do), but I do believe that his acting, as well as the people around him, were great in that film. They really pulled out all the stops and made a genuinely great horror movie. However, in subsequent Purge movies, it just felt like the acting grew increasingly campy as the gore intensified.

Then there’s the fact that the same person, James DeMonaco, directed the first three films. Then the next two were directed by two entirely different individuals – Gerard McMurray and Everardo Gout. While this doesn’t always happen, I have noticed that in some horror franchises (like the Resident Evil movies) that the overall distribution of the story tends to get muddled when directors change, even if the screenwriter stays the same (as it did for the Purge films). There’s just so much stuff that’s not connecting.

Ultimately, I believe the primary issue is the narrative. The story for these films doesn’t land that well.

The first film, again, had a lot going for it. The idea was relatively original in the world of horror, and it’s something that we hadn’t really seen before. Its execution could have been better, but I enjoyed it overall. However, as the franchise has continued, and more lore has been woven into the story's fabric, things have become more complex and more challenging to understand.

There’s also the underlying politics of it all, and I think that should have played a much larger role in the first film than The Purge: Election Year. But because it doesn’t really take a primary seat until later in the franchise, it almost feels forced, and that’s not fun.

The Purge movies haven’t gone up in quality. If anything, they’ve gone down, and I don’t exactly know where else they can go with this.

The TV Series Was Alright, But Just Boring

I bet some of you didn’t even realize there was a television series based on this series, but there was. The Purge show was featured on the USA Network and ran for two seasons, with ten episodes each from 2018 to 2019.

The series isn't super different from the films – the first season covers the Purge night of 2027. It's a little too close to that year for me to be comfortable, but okay. There are several disconnected stories of survivors and assailants, as well as everything else that we watch. It’s nice to see different stories instead of one, and then they do end up linking together towards the end, but it still feels like too little.

Numerous avenues could be explored in a TV series like this, and they decided to remake the first movie, but just with more stories. Some of them felt like they didn’t even make sense in this world.

The second season was a little more interesting, as it took place nearly a decade later and followed new characters as they survived the end of Purge Night, then investigated conspiracies for the following year. Still, all the people who we follow feel flat, and the stories themselves are just not interesting.

The Story Really Isn't Even That Original Anymore

This is the biggest issue with the Purge franchise as a whole: the story is no longer original. They keep trying to make this happen over and over again, but we’ve seen this song and dance before, and it usually ends the same way.

I think we’ve evolved as a society with horror movies since 2013 (the year the first Purge movie came out) to where we look for more in our horror movies. Films like Ari Aster’s Midsommar and Hereditary speak deep meanings while also scaring the heck out of you. Movies like Bring Her Back can be traumatizing for their audiences, yet also evoke tears.

People are looking for more substance in their horror, and just having someone have a free pass to murder whoever they want because the government said so isn’t cutting it anymore.

There Are So Many Other Great Ideas We Could Lean Into Instead Of The Same One Over And Over Again

I’m still going to see the new Purge movie. At this point, I’ve dedicated so much time to this franchise that it would be a sin for me not to see it. However, I also think that if this series is to thrive, it needs to start exploring more ideas.

It needs to dig deeper into the morality, mortality and everything else that revolves around the Purge for people to really sink their teeth into. We need to have more characters face conflicting decisions where there really isn’t a winning side, but they have to pick the one that doesn’t suck as much. We need more conflict, and right now, it’s just not there.

If these improvements aren't made, I fear that The Purge is going to get taken out just like every character that dares to walk into this franchise.

There are so many great upcoming horror movies, and while the next Purge film will undoubtedly be a part of it, I at least have plenty of new films to look forward to as well. Maybe Pete Davidson possibly joining the franchise will make me excited.