REMINDER: ALL EMERGENCY SERVICES WILL BE SUSPENDED FOR A 12-HOUR PERIOD DURING THE PURGE. 

On a government-sanctioned day in the near future, every law is suspended; a family braces itself for the coming 12-hour massacre…

A marriage between sentiments and ideas from movies like A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Assault on Precinct 13 (1977), this is a very dark action thriller that kind of wants you to take its illogical and absurd fascist satire seriously. That’s hard, especially because the story is set much too close to our time to be believed.

Still, writer-director James DeMonaco offers plenty of cheap thrills.

2013-U.S.-France. 85 min. Color. Widescreen. Written and directed by James DeMonaco. Cast: Ethan Hawke (James Sandin), Lena Headey (Mary Sandin), Max Burkholder (Charlie Sandin), Adelaide Kane (Zoey Sandin), Edwin Hodge, Rhys Wakefield. 

Trivia: Co-produced by Michael Bay. Followed by three sequels, starting with The Purge: Anarchy (2014), a prequel, The First Purge (2018), and a TV series, The Purge (2018-2019).