Has its moments...but not enough of them

Rating: 5/10 (9 June 2013)

This takes places in 2022. Unemployment is at 1%, crime is non-existent and everything is fine. However, for one night in the year, ALL crime (murder mostly) is legal so people can "purge" themselves. One family is all protected in their house--but their son lets in an unarmed man who is running from a mob that wants to kill him. The mob tells the family give him to us...or they'll all die.
The premise is ridiculous any way you look at it; people do REAL stupid things and the dialogue and situations are laughable...but it still works in parts. The family is likable (if dysfunctional) so you really feel for them when they're attacked; the masks the group wears are REAL creepy; the people playing psychos don't overact and there's bursts of extreme violence and blood (but not much). What I found more disturbing was my audience was cheering on the violence which was NOT the idea. Still I have to admit when two particularly vicious villains got what was coming to them I applauded. So I have mixed feelings about this one.