A Violent Sequel Is #1 On Streaming
A gruesome sequel is topping the streaming charts.
This article is more than 2 years old
That one night of lawlessness is back once again for the fifth (and final?) go around. The franchise’s popularity has the new film sitting at #1 on Amazon Prime. The Forever Purge introduces a whole new cast who not only have to survive the initial 12-hours of the purge, but also the “purification”, where the purge shows no signs of stopping.
The film picks up a full eight years after the franchise’s third film, The Purge: Election Years. It has been eight years since the purge was struck down and voted out. But now, a re-elected New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) has reinstituted the Purge and the annual 12-hour, commit any crime to include murder, is back in action.
Josh Lucas heads a cast that includes Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta, Cassidy Freeman, and Will Patton. We find our new cast set in America, 2048 on the eve of the Purge.
Juan and Adela have recently and illegally crossed the U.S. border into Texas, escaping from a Mexican drug cartel. Juan has found a job working as a farmhand on the Tucker Ranch while Adela has also found work in Austin, Texas.
As the Purge begins, Juan and Adela take refuge with numerous other migrant workers, who may or may not be in the country legally. Before they go under full lockdown, Adela notices a group calling themselves the Purge Purification Group, whose intent is to kill anyone they consider non-American.
Juan and Adela survive the Purge, as do the Tuckers on their ranch. But as everyone begins to emerge from hiding, not everything is kosher. While the Purge has officially ended, the end is not in sight for many. Across the United States, Forever Purgers continue on, killing anything in their path.
On the Tucker Ranch, the Tuckers are taken hostage by a group of their farmhands, who are looking to make the Tucker’s own up for being rich. Juan, now separated from Adela, arrives in time to help the Tuckers escape the violence, though not everyone survives.
Juan and the remaining Tuckers now go in search of Adela while trying to fight off the Forever Purgers. Canada and Mexico, realizing what is happening in America, have opened their borders for the next six hours to save those from the violence. The group decides to flee across the Mexican border through El Paso.
As the group gets into El Paso, the NFFA has already condemned the violence by the Forever Purgers as they have been attacked and becomes targets themselves. The group is split and one side is captured by Forever Purgers. They are told they can be allowed to live if Dylan (Lucas) kills Juan and his friend T.T. Dylan refuses, so the Forever Purgers kill T.T. allowing for the rest of the group to escape.
Now, with the group back together, they must team up with a group of Native Americans to cross over into Mexico. It’s a bloody fight that makes the Purge franchise so popular.
The Forever Purge sees its third director in the franchise with Everardo Gout. The film also sees the return of franchise scribe James DeMonaco, who not only has written each film in the series, but who also directed the first three films (The Purge, The Purge: Anarchy, and The Purge: Election Years) as well.
Gout was given an $18 million budget and though the film only recently premiered in theaters on July 2, 2021, it has already grossed $60 million at the box office.
When DeMonaco put together The Forever Purge, he stated it would be the last film in the franchise, which also included a TV series, The Purge, which lasted two seasons. But Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, whose company put together franchises like Paranormal Activity, Insidious, as well as The Purge, can be quite convincing. He spoke with DeMonaco about the possibility of continuing the successful franchise.
“I’m trying to make him [DeMonaco] write more. I would never do it without James,” Blum said via Screenrant. “I wouldn’t hire someone else to do Purge movies, but I’m not through, and I’m going to try and talk him into a few more.”
DeMonaco responded via Dread Central. “Between you and I, man, I really intended for [The Forever Purge] to be the last one…up until 4 months ago when I woke up and had an idea for [The Purge] 6. “I had this idea… I can flip this thing upside down and we can continue this, maybe, in a way that people can enjoy… I’m actually outlining it right now in between these interviews! If the Movie Gods say, ‘People want to see it’ then we’ll do it. But I always leave it to the audience to tell us if they want more of it. But we’re ready! I have another one if they want it.”
The first three Purge films followed in succession, while the fourth film, The First Purge, took audiences back to how the Purge began. The fourth film took a noticeable drop at the box office, but this fifth film in the series already looks to be a box office winner. A possible sixth film looks enticing based on the fact that the combined budget for all five films is at $35 million while the movies themselves have brought in over $458 million. So, Blum and DeMonaco taking a sixth (or maybe even more) shot at the franchise would not be shocking.
