The Purge (2013)

Most people think so. 74% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics scored it lower at 41%, but audiences disagreed.

Given the country's overcrowded prisons, the U.S. government begins to allow 12-hour periods of time in which all illegal activity is legal. During one of these free-for-alls, a family must protect themselves from a home invasion. Wikipedia ↗

The Purge is a 2013 American dystopian horror thriller written and directed by James DeMonaco. Ethan Hawke stars as James Sandin, a wealthy home security salesman whose business has thrived thanks to the New Founding Fathers of America's signature policy: the annual Purge, a 12-hour period during which all crime, including murder, is legal, and emergency services are suspended. When the Sandin family's fortified home is breached after their son lets in a wounded stranger being hunted by a group of masked, upper-class purgers, they must survive the night against adversaries who see the Purge as their patriotic right.

The Purge's high-concept premise — what if all crime were legal for one night a year? — was an irresistible hook that functioned as both a horror scenario and a political allegory about class warfare, American violence, and the myth that societal rage can be safely channeled through institutional violence. The film's micro-budget approach — $3 million, set almost entirely in one house — was both a creative strength and limitation. The Purge earned $89 million worldwide, spawning a franchise of five films and a television series that explored the concept's implications across different social classes, locations, and political contexts.