The First Purge

In Gerard McMurray’s year-zero prequel to the wildly popular franchise, the original “purge” experiment—a 12-hour window in which all variety of crime is legal in the US—is limited to the geographic confines of Staten Island. But while earlier Purge tales tempted interpretation in both left- and right-wing directions, this installment isn’t afraid to announce itself as a breathtaking, action-packed work of 21st-century Blaxploitation, effectively depicting a grassroots militia takeover in response to a thinly veiled metaphor for Reagan’s “war on poverty”—which doubles as a more contemporary critique of Trump-era policies.

Join us following the screening for a discussion with writer Dennis Hogan