“Your Government thanks you for you for your participation”

Hello Everyone :-)

My relationship with horror is undergoing a bit of a make-over…

After many sleepless night and eventually swearing off horror films for 4 years, in 2012 I dipped my toe back in the water when I went to see ‘The Woman in Black’. Needless to say I was scared shitless for the duration but came out of it relatively unscathed and as a result, decided to fling myself back into the genre.

I’m really glad I did because if I hadn’t I’d have missed out on loads of stuff. For one thing I’ve discovered that I really love Zombies; they’re awesome. I’m watching films about Zombies, reading books about Zombies, watching any TV show that appears to feature Zombies; I’m all over it.

Secondly, I’d have missed LOADS of brilliant films, including one of my favourite films of 2012 ‘The Cabin in the Woods’.

With this mentality of FOMO (fear of missing out) I decided to go with some friends (as much as I’m making strides with Horror I’m still unable to watch scary films on my own because deep down I’ll always be a massive wuss) to see ‘The Purge’.

‘The Purge’ is set in 2022 in the United States which has become "a nation reborn", with crime and unemployment rates at all-time lows. Apparently the reason the US is living in such harmony is because the government has instated an annual 12-hour time period called "The Purge", during which people can let loose as all crime (including murder) becomes legal.

We watch the annual Purge from the point of view of the Sandins. James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) is a successful security system salesman with a beautiful wife (Lena ‘Cersei’ Headey), two children (Max Burkholder and Adelaide Kane) and a super gorgeous home. The family lock up and hunker down behind their flash security system when young Charlie takes pity on a homeless man he sees being chased by a gang of privileged, masked "purgers"  and lets him into the house. We watch as the purgers’ sinister leader (Rhys Wakefield) threatens the Sandins who have to decide whether to give up the defenseless stranger or fight.

You know I said earlier I’m glad I started watching horror films again because if I hadn’t “I’d have missed LOADS of brilliant films”? Yeah… well this ain’t one of them.

To be fair, I have a certain respect for ‘The Purge’. It was made for $3 million, looks really stylish and has made about $43.5 millions to date. Well done ‘The Purge’. However that's where my generous spirit gives out.

The cast are unexceptional. They’re not bad by any stretch of the imagination but only one person really manages to stand out.

Ethan Hawke gives a fairly solid go at being the slimy salesman turned gun-toting action man but it’s nothing that we haven’t seen before. The usually awesome Lena Headey fails to bring her usual energy to proceedings and fades into a squealing, gun-dropping cliché of a character.

Max Burkholder and Adelaide Kane have the thankless tasks of being the Junior Sandins and constantly in peril. I mean seriously… your house has no electricity, is surrounded by a gang that resembles the cast of ‘Made in Chelsea’ if they wore creepy masks and were given access to weapons AND there is a scared, potentially armed stranger trapped in your house… WHY ARE YOU WANDERING OFF ON YOUR OWN?!?!

The one trump card ‘The Purge’ has up its sleeve is Rhys Wakefield as the Leader of the ‘Made in Chelsea Murderers’. He is a vision of privilege and respectability with maniacal, trigger happy tendencies. He’s shades of Alex DeLarge and the moments where he is on screen are when the film sparks into life.

Alas these moments are all too fleeting. What begins as an intriguing concept soon paves way to a by-the-numbers home invasion film with a, quite frankly, stupid ending. The film has quite a lot to say, it’s clearly trying to make a clever comment about the wealth divide between rich and poor but it gets muddled in the dafter aspects of the film.

Like I said, it’s an interesting idea; what would happen if all crime was legal for 12 hours? However in posing this question ‘The Purge’ is ultimately asking you to believe that humans are inherently psychopathic beings that would murder each other the first chance they get. I don’t buy that.

I like to credit people with a dash more perspective than stooping as low as to try and murder someone because they’re jealous of the new extension they’ve just had put on their house. Call me crazy but I don’t think that normal, decent people harbour murderous tendencies… I just don’t. The problem with that is if I don’t believe this is possible, it isn’t scaring me (with the exception of a couple of decent jump-scares).

‘The Purge’ is a little bit like a knitted jumper. It looks good but as soon as you start pulling at a loose thread the whole thing unravels.

Somewhere in there is a decent short film but it gets lost too easily. There’s something to be said for Rhys Wakefield but unfortunately one good performance does not a good film make. If you really must see this I’d wait till it’s out to rent or just do yourself a favour and watch ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ again because it’s bloody brilliant…

The Purge is in Cinemas now.

Right, I definitely need some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. Following on for yesterday’s Poster here we have the first teaser trailer for ‘The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug’. Lots and lots of Evangeline Lily’s Tauriel, a little bit of Luke Evans’s Bard the Bowman and one very familiar face…

2. Trailer madness today :-) This has been out for a while but I felt the need to celebrate its awesomeness. Trailer for ‘The World’s End’ :-) Just in case you want to go into this one relatively cold, steer clear of the international trailer, it gives away far too much of the plot for my liking. ‘The World’s End’ is out on 19^th July.

That’s all for today.

Goodbye till next time :-)

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