If you think this is going to be a deep dive think-piece pontificating, it’s not. It’s just fun spoiler discussion that doesn’t ignore the socio-political messaging present. This is going to be meandering and slightly disjointed. I am ADHD and I’m off my meds. All aboard my train of thought, so read at your own risk.

Just a quick reminder that discussions don’t have to be angry and filled with vitriol and negativity. Discussions can be a balance of intellectual and whimsical. Keep that in mind.

Oh and speaking of spoilers, did you catch the homages to other horror movies? Here are some character nicknames I came up with:

Crazy Crackhead Krueger, who really should have been bath salts Krueger or been written as a commentary on the lack of mental healthcare for severe patients. That is another discussion for another day, but tell me his hand gear didn’t remind you of this:

Project Voorhees

Nazi Gimp of the SS and his Black Face Militia

4 Wheelin Tiki Torchers

And of course…

Ram-Bro

Did you notice how much they did reference things from real life?

The people I called 4 Wheelin Tiki Torchers, were the guys with khaki pants that shot up the church. They are clearly referencing the “You will not replace us” tiki torch marchers in Charlottesville and Dillon Ruth.

Nazi commander with black face militia. Obvious reference is obvious.

KKK [see also: what I just said above]

There was a black man being beaten by police on an athletic field. This is there to directly remind you of the athletes who kneel to protest police brutality.

A man is shown dragged down the street. This literally happened to a black man only a few years ago in Texas. 

By far the biggest thing taken from real life is the Purge being an experiment. This movie is so political yet I’m seeing reviewers just discussing if one man could fight well enough to take on all these groups. Really, that’s all you got from this movie?

Shout out to Suzy S.

and Chauncey K Robinson for being the only other reviewers I’ve seen so far that have brought up the sociopolitical aspects of this movie.

If you think this movie isn’t political Google “Unethical human experimentation in the United States”. Here, I’ll do you one better and give you a link learn about The Tuskeegee Experiment and Operation Sea Spray

The US has a history of conducting experiments on not only people of color, but incarcerated people, children, pregnant women, and the mentally disabled all without their knowledge or consent.

Currently, as of the writing of this piece, people in Flint MI are still living with water that was contaminated through the actions of the local government.

Some say that the political messaging in this movie is too over the top. I don’t think it is because I’ve watched several reviews where this shit seemed to still go over their heads.

But then we live in a world where we watch people literally being shot or as of late dragged out of a bodega and killed with a machete and recorded and uploaded or live streamed on social media. I was casually scrolling Twitter and saw a video of Xxxtentacion siting dead in his car. Kids are walking into schools and open firing on classmates and yet still – some people want to say that The Purge is “silly”.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – we are about a couple years away from The Running Man. The Purge is so possible to me. I hope the upcoming Purge TV series explores the sociopolitical aspects more.

The most unrealistic thing was the violent crackhead. That dude was an antisocial  psychotic, not a just crackhead. Yes some people with psychological issues self medicate, but being on crack usually isn’t enough to make you psychotic as it was shown in this movie. 

Speaking of mental, I loved the bag ladies who rigged teddy bear explosives to Let It Whip. That was hilarious. I loved it.

This movie is going to be a cult classic. One might not think this counts as a part 4. Though technically a prequel, it is a fourth installment. It’s rare to have a good 4th movie in a franchise. So rare that I can only just think of 5 good part 4 movies:

Rocky IV

Friday the 13th IV : The Final Chapter

Insidious Last Key – I thought it was fun

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones was decent, don’t @ me. It was decent af.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 – This is an unpopular opinion, I know, but I really liked the practical effects and Sheila meant a lot to this little black girl who loves horror.

Just so you know, I am obviously not one of those horror snobs that’s all  “Oh I just hate those Paranormal Activity movies and Insidious jump scare fests”. I like the where’s Waldo-ness of the Paranormal Activity movies (except Ghost Dimension that was trash, even for me). Even P.A. Tokyo Nights was cool. It’s fun to try and see what is happening in the frames.

I love a good (operative word good) jump scare. Effective jump scares are fun to me. Not false scares, but well timed jumpscares and misdirects are fun to me. Take the stick out your ass and have some fun.

I seriously don’t remember Saw IV or The Final Destination. Let me know in the comments if you thought they were good. Do you have a favorite part IV movie?

BTW, if you think I may have missed something please check out my Spoiler Free Review of The First Purge where I talk about how annoying that girl and her peanut head brother were.