Horror with a flag planted in our times
The Purge: Election Year 15 cert, 109 min
Dir James DeMonaco Starring Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson, Frank Grillo, Betty Gabriel, Kyle Secor, Edwin Hodge From its provocative premise – what if, for one night every year, all crime including murder was legal? – The Purge horror series has wrung almost as much blunt social commentary as it has ghoulish shocks. This third instalment, set during a US presidential election, is the most nakedly topical yet.
Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) – think Hillary Clinton crossed with a Sports Illustrated cover model – is the progressive candidate whose campaign is built on abolishing The Purge, the 12-hour free-for-all established as a quick release valve for the nation’s pent-up fury. Except now the word “purge” is taking on a second resonance: activists are noting that the huge underclass death toll helps keep the welfare and health budgets in check and consolidates power among an elite led by Edwidge Owens (Kyle Secor), a fulminating, Bible-waggling hybrid of Pat Robertson and Donald Trump. You know what’s coming, and that’s part of the fun. Purge Night rolls around. Roan is targeted by forces in the employ of … well, guess. She and bodyguard Leo (Frank Grillo) must last the night, with employees providing firepower and moral support. Every last US hot topic of the moment, from immigration to whitesupremacist militias, is pumped dry for instant resonance. The result is a roiling casserole of bad-taste jolts – parricidal Lolitas, gallows gags about racist mobs – but each one pulls its weight. There are plot fixes here that defy logic and some overworked performances. But it’s horror with a flag planted firmly in our times.