I Feel the Need to Purge Too [Spoiler level: Moderate]

The Purge became a massive hit in the US upon release, earning its budget back a tenfold in the opening weekend alone. Add that to the immense potential for a sequel/prequel discussed in my previous blog post it was all but certain that a sequel would come about, and indeed Blumhouse (the production house behind The Purge) announced today that "The Purge 2 is in development".

The Purge 2 is in development @universalhorror #ThePurge
— Blumhouse (@blumhouse) June 11, 2013

Blumhouse's other hits include Paranormal Activity and Sinister, they specialise in low-budget horrors. I haven't seen too many of their previous films, but from glancing at their filmography they surly have created a recognisable bunch of titles. Whether the titles are good or not is a completely different issue, but I can't really say my hopes are up for a decent Purge follow-up. Blumhouse's brand is cheap, profitable horror flicks that appeal to a wide audience, that that most likely means that The Purge 2 will be more or less the same as its predecessor just dealing with different victims and different attackers. After all, this premise is what made all that money in the first place, it's unlikely that anyone would change a winning formula too much.

Slashfilm has a slightly different approach to what they want, but maybe a more feasible and possible one. They note that the original doesn't really use its premise for all it's worth, and now that the world is set (at least to a degree) they can explore a lot more in-depth the craziness of it all. After all, it seems kind of weird that on a night where everything is allowed that a mere murder is the most exciting event. I've seen it pointed out several places that more long-term financial gain crimes are likely to be very interesting this night. Imagine a heist film, but with the fact that everyone you see around you is out to kill hanging over you. It'd put a whole different level on it all. Now, I should say that the original film did talk about some exceptions to the "everything is allowed" night. For example only weapons up to a certain class were allowed - probably stopping people from nuking each other - and certain government officials were immune, meaning they couldn't be the victim of attacks. Still, within all of that loose room there is a lot of interesting scenarios waiting to happen, scenarios similar enough to the first film to draw the same crowd, but different enough to draw a new one. 

I still think a more political prequel would be the most interesting. Showing the landscape of both the USA as a nation and its place in the global community. At the very least, show us more about the New Founding Fathers. How they get elected, how they proposed the idea of the purge successfully. It can't have been that easy, I refuse to believe that everyone were on-board with this idea. I'm normally not big on origin stories, but this one would be too good to let go. If it can't happen in the second film, I hope the franchise is successful enough to that after it's killed itself with a few repetitive sequels it takes one last chance and tells us this story.

I hope Blumhouse doesn't play it too safe with this follow-up, I really think they can make a mighty interesting film if they just try hard enough. Don't fall into the traps that so many do and pump out the same film over and over again. You have a really cool and original enough concept here, don't let it go stale.