Full confession: I despised the first Purge film during its initial release in 2013. I had a great deal of difficulty trying to understand why I, or anyone for that matter, would give two shits about a rich white suburban family who had the expensive security equipment necessary to protect themselves during the annual “purge.” And it didn’t even work. 

Fast forward to 2018, with two other Purge films under Blumhouse’s belt, finally landing us with its origin story in The First Purge. As you could assume, I went in with admittedly low expectations, praying that I wouldn’t be watching another Truth Or Dare-level Blumhouse production; or worse, one on par with The Purge in 2013.

The First Purge does something different. There’s an immense sense of social and political relevancy present here, even more so than Election Year in 2016, and it was not one that I was expecting. It follows the story of how the United States’ annual government-sanctioned “purge” originally came to be, which began as a so-called psychological experiment with the intentions of seeing whether or not a day without consequences would be necessary for the mental health of the nation.

But the only rich white people we see now are government officials approaching the citizens of Staten Island, which is comprised of primarily African-American, Hispanic, and most importantly, impoverished citizens. This organization, known as NFFA (The New Founding Fathers of America) are offering thousands of dollars to those who stay on Staten Island the night of the purge, to which hardly anyone can say no, with the exception of gang leader Dmitri (Y’lan Noel) and his ex-girlfriend Nya (Lex Scott Davis). Nya’s brother, Isaiah (Joivan Wade) naively decides to participate in the purge out of resentment for a murderous psychopath in their neighborhood, who we only know as “Skeletor.”

But the fact that this experiment was focused on low-income, marginalized people is just one of the several details that make The First Purge uncomfortably relevant, from Nya screaming “pussy-grabbing motherfucker!” after escaping a potential sexual assault, to government officials and police officers wearing coats and uniforms more akin to the German Gestapo than traditional suits and police garb. Through the dizziness that comes from the perpetual and unending violence through rapid camerawork and editing, which borders on violating the eyes, we can still clearly make sense of exactly what’s going on and how to connect it to the world around us.

The first three Purge installments had a lot to say, but didn’t quite have the panache of how to eloquently, or clearly, say it. The First Purge knows exactly what to say–so yes, the writing is a bit on the nose, wanting to absolutely ensure the audience what the message is, though most people could probably figure it out for themselves. (Maybe not for some?) All of the films in this series have inherent plot holes in the concept itself, but this story is coherent and engaging nonetheless. And despite the twist towards the conclusion being somewhat predictable, it was the way in which it was visually executed that sent chills down spines.

They were not even in the general IDEA of messing around here.

When the first Purge came out, the world was very different–to the point of where the mere idea of an annual “purge” was scoffed at as completely implausible. But taking into consideration the current political and social landscape of 2018, the idea of a government-sanctioned activity such as this, particularly targeted at people of color, is a dystopian future that shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed–especially when we see neo-Nazis and members of the Klu Klux Klan riding gleefully throughout the streets, ready to kill anyone in their way on their one special night of complete power. It’s hard for me to draw a conclusion as to how much I “enjoyed” this film, versus my desire to recommend it to others. All I know is that I’m emotionally and mentally exhausted, as The First Purge isn’t one of escapism. But at the end of the day, I guess that’s a good thing.