Too Bad We Can't Do This in D.C. "The Purge"

Some future...

The Story:

In the not-too-distant future, apparently the government has deemed that for a 12 hour period, there will be no Emergency Services provided.  No fire, police or medical.  Want revenge?  Go get it. If it's illegal, it's okay!  This process has successfully reduced crime to almost nothing, poverty is nearly gone.  Apparently the haves get rid of the have nots on this night.  The Sandin family is one of the haves, but when their son takes pity on a bleeding stranger, they are about to be under siege by those celebrating The Purge, and will face death unless they give the man back to be executed.

Well, that was creepy!

Ethan Hawke is the star of the film, and probably the only recognizable actor in the film.  He's the dad, and he just so happens to sell security systems so that people can feel safe on this one night of the year.

The movie is written and directed by  James DeMonaco, who wrote the excellent film, The Negotiator.

Apparently, Ethan Hawke and DeMonaco are great friends, or possibly in cahoots with one another with a production company, because Hawke is in nearly everything that he's worked on since 2005.

It's good to have friends in the business!

This movie was seemingly sold as a low-budget horror movie.  I would disagree with that genre and say it trends more towards thriller/suspense than horror.  Oh, there's blood and violence but not like what you get in the usual horror flick.

While the movie is pretty good, and has a tendency to ramp up the suspense as the film goes along, there were some things I didn't totally agree with, artistically speaking.

The main one: plunging the house into darkness.

Yes, I understand why they did it, but if that is the case, you really need to make the film still visible to the audience.

Get creative with lighting, or have emergency lights that can create shadows without plunging 90% of the screen into black.

That's not mood lighting, that's just poor planning.

From the looks of it, there's already a sequel in the works. 

I'm not too terribly surprised, when you can make a low-budget suspense/thriller for a buck, you get a great return on your investment.

Final Grade: B-/C+ range... again, they were on to something, just some of the choices didn't work that great for me.

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I think I'm good seeing it once, but I'll be back for the sequel.