The Purge, which began as a small horror film starring Ethan Hawke, has blossomed into a bloody franchise for Blumhouse Productions. Five years, two sequels, and a forthcoming television series later, the fourth film in the series, The First Purge, promises to reveal precisely how the favorite pastime of a near-future America first came to be. A provocative poster released in January featured a mockup of President Trump’s familiar red campaign hat, and now the first trailer has dived straight down into the new prequel’s glaringly obvious political and real-world overtones.
Here’s a brief summary of what to expect from the franchise’s latest installment, which is by no means ignoring the current epidemic of police shootings in the United States:
To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the marginalized, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation.
Starring Marisa Tomei as the purge’s architect, and from a script written by the first film’s writer and director, James DeMonaco, The First Purge will shut down theaters across the country on July 4th.
