Review of The Purge: Anarchy (2014) by Patferg — 25 Jul 2014

A hybrid of violent thrill and political message, Anarchy is a refreshingly intelligent horror movie. By drawing the action onto the streets and through a range of environs, the sequel covers most of the wasted potential of its predecessor. Though a horror, Anarchy avoids tacky, dull torture porn and instead relies upon its multitude of creative villains, superb slow-motion camera pans, tense atmosphere and sudden shocks to make the audience jump.

The film’s political message is thinly-veiled: references to the (new) Founding Fathers, love of guns, religion and the connection between these abound. On the streets villains brazenly “open carry” while the ultimate villains hunt their “purges” in the safety of their mansions.

Realism does take second place in favour of grotesque caricatures of American gun culture, but this is hardly grounds for criticism of a horror film.

The film does have its problems: there is the odd cringe-worthy forced line and there are some noticeable loose-ends, but these do little to upset the film’s neat balance between entertaining thrill and intelligent parody.