After three movies, The Purge franchise is taking things back in time for audiences to purge and purify on the night that started it all. The First Purge will allow us to see the events of the first-ever Purge night in grisly fashion, and it sounds like it will feel different from previous incarnations. In fact, The First Purge producer Andrew Form recently opened up about the project while speaking to CinemaBlend about the upcoming release of A Quiet Place, and he explained that the prequel will tell a more personal story about an incredibly badass hero. Form elaborated:
This Purge is about a neighborhood. It's a lot of similar things, but it is specific to this neighborhood and to me, and I can't believe I am going to say this and don't quote me on it, but it feels more personal than the other Purge movies. It really does. I've seen the movie once and it was a long cut so I don't want to lead you down a path if we end up changing it, but it just feels like a more personal story and the protagonist in this Purge is just a badass. He's just a cool guy and it's just a cool movie. It's a really cool movie. one thing about this movie is that it's incredible, it's that DeMonaco always seems to know what's going to happen politically and culturally and I think he's done that again with this one. I don't know how he does it.
So it seems that The First Purge will tell a story on a smaller scale compared to the previous two films, while also larger than the single-location original. This seems logical, given the fact that the film reportedly takes place within the confines of Staten Island. Beyond that, however, we will also apparently see a "more personal" story play out as we follow a brand-new "badass" hero. Andrew Form wouldn't explain much more beyond that, but it looks like the franchise will continue to play to its strengths while also deviating slightly from the sprawling narratives seen in movies like The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year.
It's definitely an intriguing promise, especially when we consider the franchise's inherent ability to create badass heroes. Could this "badass" rival Frank Grillo's Leo from the last two Purge films? We will have to wait and see to know for sure.
Of course, one thing that we cannot ignore while discussing another installment in The Purge franchise is how current politics will influence the next movie. On that note, Andrew Form explained later in the interview that the new film would reflect the insane actions of an "odd government." The producer continued:
Well, this is the first one so we're going the other way. It is relevant in that we have an odd government that has some unusual ideas that they're putting forth and they feel very confident that that's the right way to go. Our story is about a group of people who don't agree with what's the government is doing and are trying to fight against it. I don't want to give too much away, but I don't know what it is about DeMonaco but he's just super super good at figuring out where the world is going, and he's done that here.
This makes quite a bit of sense. From the very first installment, the franchise has always framed The Purge as a way to satire modern politics. That came to a conclusion during The Purge: Election Year, in which the heroes actually managed to bring the reign of the New Founding Fathers to an end, though we don't know how permanent that end was. With The First Purge, we will see the seeds of that rebellion planted as the fascist government rises.
On that note, The First Purge will appropriately debut in theaters this summer on July 4. Until then, make sure to watch out for Andrew Form's latest horror outing when John Krasinksi's A Quiet Place premieres on April 6.
