This Classic Horror Series Tops the Netflix Charts: “I wish we all had one free one a year”
Were it not for M3GAN and The Black Phone, I’m not sure how much cache Blumhouse would yield in the present day. While they were once a tentpole for high-concept, low-budget horror hits, their recent slate has been less noteworthy than their biggest springboards last decade. Is anyone still really talking about Night Swim or Imaginary? I am, especially with regard to Imaginary, though they’ve definitely struggled to maintain the same genre dominance they once had. We won’t talk about M3GAN 2.0. She’s been through enough, poor girl.
At one point, their IPs were the genre. Insidious, Sinister, and The Purge were as recognizable as horror got, the latter especially. The Purge incited an entire franchise, including five films, a television series, and a prospective sixth entry on the way. It’s surprising, then, to see the second film, The Purge: Anarchy, shoot up the Netflix charts. It’s gotta be that post-Halloween fever, no? Whatever it is, The Purge lives on enduringly. Pretty ironic for a series centered around just one night.
James DeMonaco’s The Purge: Anarchy largely delivers on the promise of the first film. While I’m personally partial to the more contained, home invasion thrills of the original, Anarchy takes The Purge to the streets. It’s the expanded scope the conceit promised, and it more than delivers. It’s a breathless, tense fight for survival, with several intersecting stories of the poor, innocent saps stuck outside during a night where all crime, including (especially) murder, is legal.
Funnily enough, in an interview of mine with James DeMonaco, he remarked that he got the idea for the franchise from his wife. After a confrontation with a drunk driver, he shared, “My wife is a doctor and a wonderful woman. So, what she said then was, for her, quite nihilistic. But in the heat of the moment, she said, “I wish we all had one free one a year.’ She was angry, but I knew what she meant. And that idea—of ‘one free murder a year’—stayed with me.” We’ve all been there, wont as we are to conceal it, and that likely accounts for why the franchise endures decades on.
What do you think? Are you among the viewers revisiting The Purge: Anarchy on Netflix? Which film in the franchise is your favorite? For me, it’s still the original, but sound off over on Twitter @Chadiscollins with your favorite from the series.
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