VOD Spotlight: The Purge: Anarchy

In 2013, The Purge came to movie theaters with an interesting storyline: that on one night every year, any and all crime is made legal. The film was a surprise summer hit, debuting at No. 1 with an astonishing $34.1 million weekend at the domestic box office.

After witnessing the response to The Purge, writer/director James DeMonaco quickly turned his attention to developing a sequel. The Purge: Anarchy moves the audience outside on the streets during the annual Purge.

For DeMonaco and producer Sébastien K. Lemercier, the first movie was originally intended to be a smaller film that served as a commentary on society. DeMonaco was as surprised as anyone that the concept was so universal. He offers: “Sébastien and I first thought it would be a politically subversive indie that would play in small art houses in Los Angeles and New York. We fashioned The Purge to be a morality play about this one family’s comeuppance and the lessons they learn about violence, money and class. It was built to be more provocative than commercial, but now it’s both.”

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DeMonaco continues, saying he wants his films not only to entertain, but also to start a conversation: “With this series, I’m hoping to reflect something in American society about how we look at violence. It’s very different than other places in the world. We’ve found that audiences leave the theater talking about our relationship with violence as a society.” The filmmaker felt that he could further expand the concept and show moviegoers what was happening in the world that he imagined — one that existed outside of the first thriller’s suburban enclave. He shares: “We always said if we were lucky enough to do part two, we would want to show what’s happening on the streets in one of the biggest cities in America. We envisioned opening it up, because we felt the audience wanted to see more than what we gave them in the first film.”

Producer Jason Blum says, “After we showed the first movie, a lot of people said, ‘We want to know what happens in the streets or in the parks or in the country or to rich people or to poor people.’ Every single American would have a different experience on Purge night. There are many stories to tell during The Purge and that’s why we wanted to make a second one, and hopefully more.”

Andrew Form, another of the film’s producers, adds, “Even when we were making the first movie, we always wished we could have taken that idea to a bigger landscape, but we just didn’t have the resources to do it. So when the audiences responded in such a positive way to the idea of a Purge, we were able to move forward and expand this world.”

The Purge: Anarchy is available starting Oct. 21 on Video On Demand. Check your cable system for availability.

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