The Purge: Election Year review – a tense and action filled thriller

‘It’s Purge Night once more and in election year the stakes are higher than ever.’

Back in 2013, James DeMonaco’s The Purge (2013) was just another “Home Invasion” thriller, a sub-genre of the horror film which in the last few years has been growing in popularity with movies like The Strangers (2008) and You’re Next (2011). Surprisingly, DeMonaco just about kept The Purge from being a generic repeat of these films with an interesting premise: set in a not too distant future, the Purge films are set in an America run by a totalitarian government called the “The New Founding Fathers of America” (NFFA) who initiate an annual event called “The Purge”, where for twelve hours, 7:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M., all crime including murder is made legal, so people can purge themselves of their darker tendencies.

The first movie had its flaws but did well enough to warrant a sequel titled The Purge: Anarchy (2014) which built on the first one by taking the action outside on the streets of L.A. and fleshing out this world more. By revealing a caste system built around “The Purge” and adding a satirical edge, DeMonaco takes that idea even further with his third instalment, The Purge: Election Year by having a presidential candidate under attack due to her opposition against this terrifying holiday.

Those expecting a straight up horror film will be disappointed as very much like Anarchy, Election Year is more like a dystopian action thriller, relying more on shootouts, car chases and hand to hand combat. By using jump scare tactics, having people running around in masks and the odd bit of torture though, DeMonaco is able to remind us that the series’ roots is in the horror genre. This change isn’t essentially a bad thing and shows us this franchise isn’t afraid to mix things up, which helps keep this world fresh.

As a sequel though, DeMonaco can’t help but fall into the trap of needing to outdo himself by increasing the carnage and the extremeness of the violence, suggesting that the majority of us given the chance are all deranged lunatics wanting nothing more but to inflict pain and suffering on each other; satirical maybe, but subtle this film isn’t.

If DeMonaco focused on developing the story more instead of trying to make everything bigger and louder, he might of saved his film from being a repeat from the last one as structurally, Election Year pretty much follows the same narrative beats of the last film as the main characters find themselves on the street again stumbling from one obstacle to the next.

Frank Grillo’s ex-police sergeant returns from the previous movie and plays Chief of Security to Elizabeth Mitchell’s Senator Roan. He’s also by far the most developed character as having more of a back story from the last film. Grillo’s also great at playing those grizzled no nonsense types and fits perfectly into that role once again.

Mitchell is also good as the senator, giving her a real inner strength and not just making her another damsel in distress. Her and Grillo help elevate this film above its pulpy premise and are able to ground the film, or as much as a film about legalising all criminal activity can be grounded. They also play off each other well and refreshingly keep it platonic where other films might have felt the need to put some unnecessary romantic sup plot in there. The rest of the cast, unfortunately, fall into typical archetypes like Mykelti Williamson’s shop owner, although he is able to do a good job of making us care for him. Additionally, the NFFA cast are all campy and over the top but one could argue that’s what you would expect in a film like this.

DeMonaco’s invested in and developed this dystopian landscape over three films now so knows what he wants and when it comes to the action, has a specific style combining a gritty realistic approach by using hand held camera techniques and following characters from behind as if a documentary, and also a really arty, stylised look when showing the terror this night stands for.

Scenes of hanging bodies and masked purgers dancing around them in slow motion or teenage girls dancing around the shop they want to loot all dressed up and brandishing machine guns and baseball bats; there’s a sort of ironic beauty to the way purge is presented.

‘DeMonaco knows what his films are, and although not high art, The Purge: Election Year is still enjoyable and entertaining enough to keep audiences enticed to this grim future.’