The Purge : Anarchy

THE PURGE : ANARCHY

Director : James DeMonaco

Year : 2014

Genre : Horror

Rating : **

Despite a higher budget and a wider scope of characters than it's 2013 original, 'The Purge : Anarchy' once again fails to utilise the vast array of options and narrative arcs that it's basic premise so clearly welcomes. Once again set in a dystopian America where for one night a year all crime including murder is legal, 'Anarchy' follows a wayward group of bedraggled would-be victims as they find themselves caught up in the middle of downtown Los Angeles as the chaos of the annual onslaught of horrifically bloody and senseless violence erupts all around them.

While it's predecessor was essentially 'The Strangers' with a bloodier edge, 'Anarchy' is a much broader and expansive picture and this does provide the audience with a very few choice moments of genuine suspense and threat. Director James DeMonaco certainly ups the ante when it comes to pointless on-screen mayhem and the cast, while not particularly well known or talented, do a fairly good job of portraying the heart-stopping terror that one would feel in such a hostile situation. Both the threat and the acting talents of the cast are perfectly exhibited in the wonderfully effective first 15 minutes of the movie which show people preparing and protecting themselves from the imminent wave of destruction caused by bloodthirsty Americans looking to slake their desire to 'release the beast'. During these scenes a genuine atmosphere of oncoming catastrophe is felt and both DeMonacos intrusive direction and the realistic screenplay (also written by DeMonaco) deftly manages to place us right in the middle of the pandemonium of the night as well as the futile efforts of the thousands desperately trying to avoid the carnage of the Purge and 'survive the night'.

But once the 12 hour orgy of death begins and the action moves from indoors to outdoors, 'The Purge : Anarchy' abandons it's psychological agenda and resorts to following the standard slasher/home invasion horror movie tropes that we have seen in countless other substandard thriller films. The characters become cut-and-keep thriller archetypes while the action becomes incredibly forced and not at all interesting to watch. Every so often there is a moment or two which generates a grimacing wince or two but as was the case with 'The Purge', no amount of directorial flair or grisly B-Movie aesthetics can help to detract from the generic nature of the scenario or, more importantly, the stupidity of the initial premise of the franchise.