Normally, horror films are the things that get me excited about movie going. Between the tropes and the sheer number of new releases that fall on to the big screen each year, I always assume the next film is going to have a twist that makes it worthwhile. There has to be something, right? We are desperately removed from the era when someone can throw a load of poo into a projector and call it cinema. Or are we? After watching The Purge and taking a few minutes to consider what could have been, I am convinced that the worst days of cinema are yet to come.
I’ve watched all the Resident Evil movies. Though tempted to fast forward through them, I sat and watched just to see what what happens next would look like visually. I knew what was coming. I telegraphed each successive death and reveal like a middle linebacker marking the QB’s next play. I stuck with the films because visually, it was worth the cliche. The Purge is a bit like that. While the director attempts to draw your attention away from the actual ‘Bad Guy’ scenario, he does such a shoddy job with foreshadowing that you know the twist the moment it starts to unfold and you find yourself saying, ”bout time’.
Visually, the purge was a mess. It often felt like character choices where driven by the director’s shot selection. Wherever the director wanted to make a shot work was where the character’s were pushed towards, often moronically.
The dialogue was thin and lacked the gravitas of what is an exceptional discussion idea/plot: America is made new again by purging its poor and defenseless once a year. I wish I could say that the film captured this idea and put a great spin on it, but what you read is basically what you get.
What I got was an opportunity to eat some popcorn and see a few solid scenes in the middle of a hot mess.