Teen Goes On 4-Day Killing Spree And Credits ‘The Purge’ Films For The Idea

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If you have been following this site, then you’ll know we’re pretty huge fans of The Purge franchise. One of the reasons why the film series has been so successful is because the realness of it all adds a certain level of fear that other horror films can’t achieve.

Sadly, a 19-year-old Indiana man made things too real. The teenager, Jonathan Cruz, has been charged with murder after going on a four-day killing spree that was reportedly inspired by The Purge films. Between May 12 and May 15, Cruz murdered three people. He allegedly told one witness that he was “purging,” and he sent text messages that referenced the movie.

This seems to match up with the murders because police say the victims were “100 percent random,” meaning Cruz had no connection to them. In addition to the three murders, Cruz also kidnapped a woman at gunpoint.

In total, he’s now facing at least 17 charges, including three counts of murder and attempted robbery resulting in serious bodily injury. Prosecutors will likely ask for the death penalty. You can read more about the story by clicking this link.

As most of you probably know, the third Purge film is scheduled to be released on July 1. It’ll be interesting to see if this story hurts its performance at the box office.

There will probably be some people out there trying to stop the release, but that’s not an appropriate reaction. The films might be scary and full of violence, but do you know what’s more terrifying? Putting restrictions on art and creativity because we humans can’t handle the responsibility that comes along with it.

Movie Review: The Purge: Anarchy – A Depressing Social commentary on our Society

2014-The-Purge-AnarchyLast week was an eclectic week at the theater. You had Jason Segal and Cameron Diaz being silly in Sex Tape, you had talking planes and trucks in Planes: Fire and Rescue, and then you had the Purge: Anarchy, the sequel to last summers sleeper hit.

The Purge: Anarchy is set one year after the last purge, hence the whole annual thing. As it starts, we find five people, who were stupid enough to get trapped outside when they knew a year in advance the Purge was coming. These people include a woman (Kiele Sanchez) and her timid husband ( Zach Gilford); a no nonsense waitress (Carmen Ejogo) and her daughter (Zoe Soul); and a grumpy man in black (Frank Grillo). The group spends the night sneaking around the city, avoiding a machete wielding motorcycle gang and citizens who are more heavily armed than Rambo following a gun sale at WalMart.

The Purge is a unique movie, in that it’s one part gory horror and one part social commentary. The writers of this movie apparently have no faith in humanity, as they have filled the world with people who are just delighted at the opportunity to murder their fellow human beings for the 12 hours that its’ legal. It’s really a sad comment on the way we view the world, as the predators far outnumber the prey. The message is this; everyone would commit murder, arson, vandalism and theft if only they could get away with it.

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While I choose to be more optimistic than that, it does make for a fun watch…for the first 80 minutes. For the fist 80 minutes, while the movie is over the top, it’s not cartoony over the top. Then, the last 20 minutes rolls in and it gets over the top in a bad way.

There wasn’t much acting to be done here. The bad guys looked menacing and the good guys looked scared. I did like the addition of the angry policeman who is out to avenge his son’s death. It made for a nice side plot and kept me interested when I really would have gotten bored if they just spent the whole movie running around, trying not to get killed.

The Purge: Anarchy is a proficient movie. It gives people going to see an action/slasher flick exactly what they’d want. Lots of gore, lots of violence and lots of gun fire. It’s a clever premise which was expanded from the original, with a bit more depth given to the characters this time around. There are no big stars in this movie, but they really didn’t need them. It’s a good enough plot to stand on its own merits.

Granted, it’s patchy and there are plot holes. The last 20 minutes made it a little silly and cartoony and didn’t seem to match the rest of the movie, but it was still entertaining. It was also a pretty depressing social commentary on our society as a whole and it will make you wonder how you would behave during a Purge, if purges were real.

Me, I’d build a bomb shelter and I wouldn’t go out for a month prior and a month after, just to avoid getting stuck outside.

WE GAVE IT: 3.5 Stars: Official Movie Trailer and Movie Poster Below

3.5 stars

 

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The Purge Anarchy New Poster