The Purge franchise has mostly been met with mixed reviews, but a prequel is on the way as Gerard McMurray directs ‘The First Purge’ which tells the story of America’s first night of chaos.
“Right now we’re living in a time where people are waking up and seeing how things really are and are needing to stand up and voice their opinion,” McMurray said, in an interview with Deadline. “As a filmmaker, showing those images and putting it out there gave me a voice to acknowledge what was going on and bring some awareness and spark dialogue about it.”
The film tackles social issues that are at the forefront of society today.
“We see events that are taking place in this country over the last year. I just tried to use what was going on in the real world and try to bring it into the film. I felt like horror films wrestle with the evils of real life, and that was one of the things I wanted to do with this film. We’re fighting for real injustices [in the film]. I wanted to pay homage [to Black Lives Matter].”
According to the synopsis:
“To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the marginalized, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation.”
The film arrives on July 4th.