The Purge: Election Year Director Talks Real-Life Resonances In Horror Sequel

Given that the current build up to America’s big two political parties naming their candidates for the November presidential election has turned out a bit more - how best to put it - dramatic than we might have anticipated, the upcoming horror sequel ‘The Purge: Election Year’ seems very timely indeed.

It’s the third movie in the dystopian fantasy series which began with 2013′s ‘The Purge’ and continued with 2014′s ‘The Purge: Anarchy,’ and is set in a near-future USA in which crime rates are at an all-time low - thanks to a government ruling that, on one night of every year, absolutely all crimes are made legal for 12 hours.

As can be ascertained from the title, ‘The Purge: Election Year’ is set against a US presidential election, in which one candidate - notably a woman - is campaigning to put an end to the annual Purge. Naturally this puts a big target on her back when Purge night comes around.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the film’s writer-director James DeMonaco - who wrote the script back in 2014 - acknowledges that he may have got some things more on the nose than even he had expected.

“Maybe, subconsciously, I knew who was in the playing field. Little things drip into you when you’re writing or you’re on set — you’re grabbing from the ether or what’s out there in the press.

“I think there’s a lot of representation of everyone who’s in the game right now, from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton to Bernie Sanders to John Kasich. I’d like the audience to play with it and see who they feel is representative of the actual candidates in the real world, without me saying who’s who.

“I think the audience will have a lot of fun saying, ‘Oh, that reminds me of something Donald said!’”

Elizabeth Mitchell stars as the candidate in jeoprady, who seeks the help of returning ‘The Purge: Anarchy’ star Frank Grillo.

‘The Purge: Election Year’ opens in UK cinemas on 15 July.

Picture Credit: Universal

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