A Third ‘Purge’ Will Happen If You Need to Get All the Murder Out of Your System

By  · Published on October 7th, 2014

Universal Pictures

In 2013, The Purge introduced us to the whimsical concept of a United States of America with one day every March when anarchy reigns. It’s a respectful, ordered anarchy – don’t get that wrong – where these blessed citizens can take out their frustrations with each other and their society in a government-sanctioned 24 hours of murder and mayhem. All crime, no matter how small or how massively atrocious, is legal and encouraged. There’s really no time like springtime.

The film ends with the valuable lesson that maybe you should keep an eye on your impressionable, emotional children during Purge night and at least switch the security system code on them before things start getting out of hand (boundaries, kids – listen to your parents). Then came a second film, The Purge: Anarchy, with the terrors and thrills of the holiday continuing. And now, since our intrepid citizens of the near-future have just a blast on that second Purge night, it makes perfect sense that a third installment is in development. The Purge 3? The Purg3? Let’s go with that.

James DeMonaco, the writer and director of the first two, is back on board to write and likely direct the third. And again, there will be some people who haven’t figured out yet that before the annual day where everybody gets violently murdered – or at the very least gets robbed by dudes in terrible plastic masks – you need to plan in advance and have an adequate backup plan in case the first one falls through. It can’t be that hard to remember. It really can’t.

Though the storyline is getting a little repetitious at this point, it’s unsurprising that DeMonaco, along with Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes are gunning for that third film. The first two had a combined budget of just $12m and have made over $200m. They’ve got a moneymaker that requires little money to make.

Now the game is to find new crimes and atrocities to occur on this night of horror. In the movies, the Purge is credited with record lows in poverty levels and unemployment because – guess what – it’s purging all of the people who can’t afford to protect themselves, as revealed at the end of Anarchy (yes, but would that really work?). It’s kind of in the name. Maybe this is the film where we, the people, finally realize that having a day of reckless abandon isn’t a stress reliever and more of a horrific blight on humanity where we’re more than likely to be killed. Blessed be the New Founding Fathers for letting us Purge, right?