The Purge (2013)
- The incredible score for The Purge was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
- The original script for The Purge was written over a decade before production finally began in 2013.
- During the filming of The Purge, Ethan Hawke improvised one of the most famous lines in the movie.
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 โ what if all crime were legal for one night a year? โ 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 โ $3 million, set almost entirely in one house โ 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.
