Superb, short and sweet little cult offering

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 2013)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
In a futuristic America, unemployment and crime have been virtually eradicated, thanks to 'the purge', an annual night a year where all crime, including murder, is legalized for twelve hours. One family who choose not to participate are the Sandins, headed by father James (Ethan Hawke), who choose the 'lock down' option in their fancy home. However, things get complicated when a homeless man approaches their door, begging to be let in before he is torn to pieces by a blood thirsty mob.
It seems if an idea isn't far fetched and off the wall enough, it can certainly be sick and twisted enough to get your attention. The Purge, the latest offering from the man who was either the director of Insidious and/or the producer of Sinister or something or other, certainly wants to expose the dark heart of humanity at it's centre, but maybe it isn't as far fetched as you might first think. It presents a, somewhat controversial, but certainly thought provoking idea of how to stamp out crime from society that provides real food for thought and forces the viewer to look inside themselves and truly examine their morals and conscience.
It's certainly a challenging spectacle that delivers more of itself and gets more out of you than you might have thought. In a day and age of hackneyed, tired scripts and plot lines, The Purge is genuinely suspenseful and unpredictable through out and the edge of your seat is truly where you'll be. Yes, it may follow suit with all the other modern fright flicks with it's over reliance on jump scenes to get scares, but with an intelligent script and taut direction behind it, they serve a function rather than just being meaningless window dressing.
There may be a lack of political correctness to it that might put off some, but The Purge is so much more complex and surprising than you expect it to be, it stands on it's own as something to be admired. *****