*UPDATE* A teaser, or announcement video, has also been released which doubles down on the Trump-isms. Check it out below!*
One of my favorite interviews was with Blumhouse’s producer Jason Blum just before the release of The Purge, and we talked about the movie’s politics and how much potential there was in it. I’m sure I had nothing to do with it, but Blumhouse and writer/director James DeMonaco progressively upped the political commentary with each movie, culminating in The Purge: Election Year‘s poster featuring that most infamous of Trump catchphrases, “Make America Great Again.”
Well, they just trumped that shit big time with the new poster for prequel The First Purge. Basically, for those of us who feel like living through the Trump presidency has been like a daily Purge, this image captures it in an obvious play on the racist-in-chief’s red MAGA hat.
The fourth film in the hit franchise goes back to the very beginning, showing how it came to be that America would allow for one day a year where all violent crime was deemed legal. The first movie introduced the grisly premise through a home invasion storyline, while subsequent chapters expanded to show the national impact and political ramifications, which saw the holiday used to wipe out the homeless, the unemployed, and other undesirables.
Here is the synopsis for The First Purge:
Behind every tradition lies a revolution. Next Independence Day, witness the rise of our country’s 12 hours of annual lawlessness. Welcome to the movement that began as a simple experiment: The First Purge.
To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the marginalized, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation.
DeMonaco wrote the script while handing the directing reins to Gerard McMurray. The First Purge opens July 4th and stars Y’Lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Luna Lauren Velez and Marisa Tomei.
