The Purge Review
RYAN: We just saw the new horror film starring Ethan Hawke which is very much The Hunger Games meets Panic Room. It actually scared me. While 99 percent of horror films in the last few years haven’t been frightening, this one actually tensed me up and scared me.
CARRIE: I am so tense right now. My entire body is clenched and it hasn’t relaxed since the end of the movie.
RYAN: This movie actually made me nauseous. I felt like I could throw up at one point because it is so gross. I tolerate gore and blood well in horror films but this one is just so realistically brutal and violent. And it’s the type of violence that could actually happen.
CARRIE: Really gruesome and graphic, and like you said – brutal and violent – those are the two perfect words. I’m not nauseous but I had to look away during several scenes because I didn’t even want to see what was happening.
RYAN: For me, the scariest movies are the ones that could actually happen, and while the premise of this film is unrealistic – taking place in the year 2022 with an American government that allows murders one night a year, the violence within the film is completely conceivable. This reminds me of the Charlie Manson murders of the 1960’s; terrorism in the suburbs.
CARRIE: 2022 sounds far away but it’s only nine years from now. Yes this brutality can happen but I don’t think one day of violence a year would help the crime rate because people are either good or bad people. They’re not going to stifle spontaneity and wait for one night.
RYAN: The theme is a bit science fiction but you’re right – there are sociopaths in all races and all socioeconomic levels and this type of government would never work. But it does get us talking about human nature, violence, laws, etc.
CARRIE: And the family faces a difficult decision in the film.
RYAN: Right, there are a few moral dilemmas raised in this movie that are interesting but look how we get to talk about it after. I like that. Ethan Hawke is really good. He’s a good actor.
CARRIE: I’m, like, watching over my shoulder now, waiting for someone to come at me with a knife!
RYAN: [laughs’ Yeah the weapons in this movie were extra large.
CARRIE: Who was the creepy young blond guy?
RYAN: That’s Rhys Wakefield. He’s Australian and this is the biggest thing he’s done. But he totally reminded me of the guys in my scariest movie of all time – Funny Games – because he’s deceivingly charming and cute, yet with murderous tendencies… terrifying; sociopathic pretty boy.
CARRIE: He had that laugh and the rest of his gang with those creepy masks were all so unsettling. What did you think of the creepy, little, rolling doll?
RYAN: Yeah – would it have killed them to make it a teddy bear?
CARRIE: [laughs’ Right? It was so creepy. That alone was enough to make it a horror film for me.
RYAN: …like something you’d see in a Poltergeist movie. It’s a scary movie.
CARRIE: It’s a great date movie because you wanna hold onto someone during this movie. I feel like I may have bruised your arm at one point.
RYAN: Please. I appreciated the human contact because it was so tense. I walk out of so many scary movies disappointed because they’re just stupid but if the goal is to actually scare you, then this one wins.
CARRIE: The audience laughed a bit during this though. I was wondering if they thought it was stupid and not scary.
RYAN: Inappropriate laughter in a horror movie is either indicative of that or it’s nervous laughter. I think this movie is good so I’m gonna guess it was nervous laughter.
CARRIE: I didn’t think this movie was stupid. I was into it. I almost had to hide under the seat. I would never want to see this at home but I was glad to see it with you.
RYAN: I recommend it. It definitely gives you the thrill you seek from a horror film. This one delivers.