‘The Purge: The Island’ Will Take Us Back to the Very First Purge

We’ve known sometime now that the next “Purge” film would likely be a prequel, but thanks to some loose lips we now know a great deal more about what the film will be about.

“Purge” series director and writer James DeMonaco did an interview with Vulture recently where he got to talking about the next entry into the “Purge” series “The Purge: The Island.”  In the interview he revealed that the next entry would be about the experimental first incarnation of the Purge night which took place on Staten Island.  Here’s how DeMonaco explained it to Vulture:

I was wondering how you get people to stay for the first Purge, and what they do is they start monetizing it. People from Staten Island can easily go to Brooklyn for the evening, so what they do is start promising very decent sums of money for the very poor people in the neighborhood. It becomes a monetization of murder and violence, incentivizing killing and keeping people around for them to be victims. So you see the inception of how grotesque the idea of the Purge is, and the manipulation upon the society.

Another interesting tidbit is that the next film will feature another anti-hero, since Frank Grillo’s character appears to be done with the series, and described him as being inspired by Clint Eastwood’s character in “Unforgiven.”  Here’s what he said:

More than the previous films, there’s a singular hero in this movie. This is one man’s journey, William, an anti-hero [who] was inspired by Eastwood in Unforgiven, so it’s this very cool, modern kind of badass who redeems himself through the story.

So yeah… Sounds like we’re getting a Battle Royale-esque film this time around.  But really, the only thing the two things have in common is an island.  And the murdering.  The properties are pretty different though in regards to why the killing is occurring and the social issues presented, but when you set  your murder fest on an island the comparisons are inevitable.

Personally, I thought “Election Year’ was a weak entry after “Anarchy” which I thought was very entertaining.  Hopefully the next film can bring the series back in line.  “The Purge: The Island.”  Will be directed by Gerard McMurray and hit theaters on July 4, 2018.