THE PURGE Season One
Siren call
UK Amazon, streaming now US USA Network, finished Showrunner James DeMonaco Cast Gabriel Chavarria, Hannah Anderson, Jessica Garza, Amanda Warren
Four movies in, you’d be forgiven for thinking that after the boring brutality of prequel The First Purge, there wasn’t much call for a spin-off series – or much appeal in what amounts to a 10-hour Purge film.
Fortunately, there are enough arcs set across the lawless night of crime to hold interest – with US marine Miguel, for example, setting out to find his missing sister, who’s joined a cult who sacrifice themselves to Purgers. In fact, when watching on a weekly basis, some storylines succeed in leaving the viewer hanging with masterful suspense. Fortunately there’s a masked vigilante in town, which cleverly weaves together the different characters.
As you might expect, there are many gory, watch-through-the-fingers moments, despite the concept being toned down just slightly for the small screen. Bleak and bloody, it’s great to see this genre taken seriously on television – though here’s hoping they take the anthology approach for the second series. Survivors notwithstanding, this story is definitely purged. Darren Scott
Purge creator James DeMonaco was inspired by both a road rage incident and the lack of response to Hurricane Katrina.