Witness the birth of an American tradition.
| Cast |
Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Mugga, Patch Darragh, Marisa Tomei, Luna Lauren Velez, Kristen Solis |
| Director |
Gerard McMurray |
| Screenplay | James DeMonaco |
| Music | Kevin Lax |
| Cinematography | Anastas N. Michos |
| Editing | Jim Page |
| Soundtrack | Available |
| SA distributor | UIP |
| Made in | 2018 |
| Produced by | Blumhouse Productions, Perfect World Pictures, Platinum Dunes |
IMDB page | ScreenIt Report | CommonSenseMedia Report
Scroll down for embedded trailer
| Genre | Horror thriller |
| Language | Frequent, very strong impact use of crude language used in casual chat with sexual innuendo. |
| Nudity | Low impact, infrequent, e.g. a man's buttocks are shown in sexual context |
| Sex | None (sic) |
| Violence | Frequent, very strong impact, realistic violence is thematic. e.g. People are shot at with blood-letting; explosions of planted bombs; there are beating, fist fights, kicking and stabbings with sharp objects; people being chased by assailants threatening to cause them harm as part of the Purge. |
| Prejudice | Mild impact, language of prejudice is fairly frequent and thematic of the deliberate move for social cleansing targetting the low income social class; depiction of mercenaries clad in 'Ku Klux Klan' robes and hoodies attacking the predominantly black community and language of prejudice. |
| Blasphemy | None |
| Drug abuse | None (sic) |
| Comments | THE FIRST PURGE is a drama action movie about a Government approved social experiment whereby for one night, citizens are allowed to commit crimes of their choice, to purge them of any rage or anger feelings they may have bottled inside, without fear of prosecution or any repurcussions. THEMES Complex, mature realistic themes of social experimentation, legalised crime, manipulation of social behaviour, murder, a license to kill, research, vigilantism, social cleansing, purging, controlled moral degradation, social degeneration, lawlessness, blackmail, manipulation, protecting loved ones, evil intent, purging rage and pent up anger, organised violence, hatred, social engineering, family, unity, the unlikely hero and villains, political unrest, civil unrest, looting, vandalism, political formations, ulterior motive, lies, deceit, incitement to cause violence recognised by the State and good triumphing over evil. The complex themes of social degeneration and moral degeneration and creating a false impression to achieve one's own goals Themes of murder and revenge that is encouraged and protected by a government lend toward the overall strong impact the themes. Very strong elements of language and violence also contribute towards the overall impact as well as the cinematography and theatre format with enhanced sound effects and audio visuals further enhances the suspense and eerie tone. |
| These details are supplied by the FPB. If you have a problem with any of the above, please take it up directly with the FPB. Read the Classification Guidelines. | |
| R: Restricted | Rated R for strong disturbing violence throughout, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use |
| Runtime | 98 |
| USA version is usually but not always the same as South African release. Versions released on streaming or DVD, Blu-ray or Video may also differ. | |
Sex / Nudity |
Violence |
Blood / Gore / Gross |
| Guns / Weapons |
Profanity |
Alcohol / Drugs |
Smoking |
Disrespectful / Bad Attitude |
Imitative Behaviour |
| Frightening / Tense Scenes |
Jump Scenes |
Tense Family Scenes |
| Music (Scary/Tense) |
Music (Inappropriate) |
Topics to talk about |
| Suggested age limit 17 + |
Positive messages |
Positive role models |
| Violence |
Sex |
Language |
| Consumerism |
Drinking, drugs, smoking |
| Scale (Max) | 20 |  |
What the Critics say | ||
| Cape Argus / The Star Jamal-Dean Grootboom  Best to purge from memory. | 5 |  |
| 24.com Gabi Zietsman The general audience will enjoy The First Purge (obvious by the fact that it’s the highest grossing Purge entry in the US) and is a good watch when you don’t know what to watch. It’s understandable that when your story is about the first Purge, people haven’t completely lost their minds yet and thus you’ll have to find other ways to make it appealing, and action and politics is one way to do it. But if you’re looking to the franchise for your fix of the horror of humanity, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. | 10 |  |
| ScreenIt T. Durgin For the most part, I smirked and scoffed my way through it while enjoying the performances. I hope this is the last Purge film, but the first of many better movies to come for Noel, Davis, and Paul. | 10 | |
| Metacritic.com 39 critics | 11 |  |
| Rottentomatoes critics 126 critics | 11 | |
| Rottentomatoes tomatometer Tomatometer The First Purge should satisfy fans of the franchise and filmgoers in the mood for violent vicarious thrills, even if its subtextual reach exceeds its grasp. | 10 | |
| Movie Review Query Engine MRQE critics   | 9 | |
| CommonSenseMedia Jeffrey M. Anderson Terrible prequel more about violence than social commentary. | 2 | |
What the People say | ||
| Metacritic.com users 54 users | 10 | |
| Rottentomatoes users 1744 users | 8 | |
| IMDB 11152 Netizens | 11 | |
| The Movie DB Community | 12 | |
Average .. 45% | 9 | |