Purge: The Island depicts first, experimental Purge Night on Staten Island

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

I'm not the biggest fan of THE PURGE. The first film specifically. I have not seen the second or the third. Nothing against them, life is short and I've got tons of TWIN PEAKS to rewatch.

Regardless of what I think, or don't think of THE PURGE flicks, they seem to be super popular with the masses so who am I to judge? Exactly. With that in mind today we have news that the new film will be called THE PURGE: THE ISLAND.

A cumbersome name, but the meaning lies in a series of quotes series writer-director James DeMonaco dropped while being interview recently by Vulture. In the interview, DeMonaco (who isn't directing the new Purge film) said that the upcoming fourth installment will take place on Staten Island and will depict the very "first, experimental" Purge night. 

James DeMonaco on THE PURGE: THE ISLAND:

I said it’s the first experimental Purge, which I don’t know if I was supposed to say, but now I’ve said it, so you have it. Next July 4, it’ll be coming.

I was wondering how you get people to stay for the first Purge, and what they do is they start monetizing it. People from Staten Island can easily go to Brooklyn for the evening, so what they do is start promising very decent sums of money for the very poor people in the neighborhood. It becomes a monetization of murder and violence, incentivizing killing and keeping people around for them to be victims. So you see the inception of how grotesque the idea of the Purge is, and the manipulation upon the society.

He continues:

It’s so kick ass in its third act. What’s fun too is there’s an anti-hero. More than the previous films, there’s a singular hero in this movie. This is one man’s journey, William, an anti-hero [who] was inspired by Eastwood in Unforgiven, so it’s this very cool, modern kind of badass who redeems himself through the story.

After spilling all of those beans, DeMonaco then went on to talk a bit about what we can expect to see come THE PURGE: TV SERIES which is set to premiere next year. And I have to say, as much as I don't care for the films, the TV series is something I will definitely be checking out.

James DeMonaco on The Purge TV series:

The movies are more like events. In the TV show, I think we’re slowing it down, and we’re using this flashback structure to enter into the non-Purge lives of these people. We’re going back six months or two years or into their childhood to see some things that might’ve fed into their decision-making on this particular Purge … Ten hours is allowing us to get deeper into character and deeper into why people would actually consider violence as an option ever.

That sounds cool as hell to me. I'll be there! What do you think of the fourth Purge and/or the upcoming TV series? Let us know in the comments below, or on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram!

THE PURGE: THE ISLAND is set to hit July 4th, 2018.