“I Purge To Keep My Country Great”

James Tisch February 25th, 2016 - 9:19 PM

The marketing machine behind upcoming horror entry The Purge: Election Year seized a prime opportunity, unveiling a swift and clever new television ad right in the middle of tonight’s Republican debate. And there’s no reason not to bullish considering Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions have minted nice coin off the inexpensive horror franchise that revolves around a night of accepted lawlessness.

The ad looked awful similar to some of our real-life battling presidential hopefuls and that was the point. A key line (“I purge to keep my country great”) itself could be read as riff on Donald Trump’s slogan “Make American Great Again.” Of course, The Purge: Election Year (the third in the franchise following 2013’s The Purge and 2014’s The Purge: Anarchy) will be much more of a literal bloodbath than our own admittedly tenuous election cycle (one hopes at least).

James DeMonaco returns as writer-director of the third entry with Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Elizabeth Mitchell (TV’s Lost) and Mykelti Williamson (Forrest Gump) leading out the cast. The plot this time takes place two years following the events of The Purge: Anarchy. Sergeant Barnes (Grillo) has become the head of security for a presidential hopeful (Mitchell) who attempts to eliminate the Purge for good.

Watch the cheeky new spot for The Purge: Election Year below. The film opens on July 1, 2016.