To the casual observer, the Purge film series represents the quintessential low-budget yet immensely successful horror franchise—a staple of Hollywood's churned-out output over the past few decades. While it is technically categorised as a horror film and accepted as such by its target demographic, such a classification is reductive. A more accurate identification places the series firmly within the realms of dystopian fiction, a genre that enjoyed a massive commercial boom in the form of popular young adult literature a decade ago. The key distinction lies in the target audience and the tone; whereas YA adaptations typically star teenage girls navigating coming-of-age crises within totalitarian societies, the Purge films feature adults and, crucially, rely on an R-rating to deliver visceral, graphic violence. This distinction is impossible to ignore after watching the third instalment, The Purge: Election Year (2016), which stands as the most explicitly political entry in the franchise to date.
The narrative is set in the year 2040, decades after the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) established the annual Purge—a 12-hour period during which all crimes, including murder, are legal, and citizens receive no assistance from authorities. The plot begins with prologue set in 2022, when Chalene "Charlie" Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell), was forced to helplessly watch her entire family get murdered during one of these nights. Eighteen years later, Roan has become a US Senator determined to abolish the Purge, a goal that seems within reach if she wins the upcoming presidential election. The antagonist is President Caleb Owens (Raymond J. Barry), a NFFA leader who aims to prevent her victory and ensure that his successor, Minister Edwige Owens (Kyle Secor), takes the presidency.
The creative limitations of director James DeMonaco become increasingly evident in Election Year, despite the film boasting a larger budget and broader scope than its predecessors. The cinematography is consistently dark, utilising shadows and gloom to hide the film's practical effects and special makeup. This approach is particularly noticeable in the final showdown in the cathedral, a sequence that looks ridiculous in execution rather than evoking the epic scale DeMonaco seems to have intended.
Even worse is the casting of Kyle Secor as the film's main villain. Secor is burdened with some of the most uninspired dialogue in the script, delivering his lines with a manic intensity that borders on caricature. His portrayal of the Minister is so over-the-top that it strains credibility, making it difficult for the audience to take the stakes seriously. This issue is compounded by the inclusion of a subplot involving a group of teenage girls who Joe Dixon (Mykelti Williamson), catches stealing from his deli. Later in the film, these same girls return during the Purge with the express desire to kill him. These scenes are overly theatrical and cartoonish, lacking the grounded tension required to make the horror elements land.
The film's thematic core is betrayed by its title. Released in cinemas only three months before the 2016 US presidential election, it is impossible to view Election Year without recognising the blatant agitprop at its core. DeMonaco and the production team clearly attempted to exploit the public's fascination with the upcoming contest while simultaneously pushing a specific political narrative. In doing so, all semblance of subtlety was abandoned. The NFFA is portrayed as exclusively White, militantly Christian, and associated with Nazism, serving as a clear stand-in for the Republican Party as portrayed by Hollywood at the time. Conversely, the opposition—represented largely by people of colour—is framed as the underdog fighting for freedom, with the only exception being the nominal protagonist, Senator Roan. More importantly, the blonde woman who is supposed to win the election and secure a landslide victory for the forces of Good serves as an obvious stand-in for Hillary Clinton. This heavy-handed allegory is the film's defining characteristic, and it is here that the movie's flaws become most apparent.
All this pre-election agitprop should have been forgiven if Election Year happened to be a good film on its own merits. Yet, the third instalment, despite its increased resources, fails to elevate the series beyond a historical curiosity. The underlying logic of the premise is also problematic. The film establishes the NFFA as a totalitarian regime that has completely reworked American society, yet it adheres to democratic norms so loosely that a single woman can simply vote it out of office. The idea that a dictatorship so entrenched that it must abolish the protection of high-ranking officials to ensure its survival can be toppled by a single election is a weak point in the storytelling. It lacks the internal consistency required to make the world-building feel consequential rather than contrived.
The passage of time has not been kind to The Purge: Election Year. Looking back from the perspective of 2026, the film’s prediction of the 2016 election outcome has aged like milk. DeMonaco, who finished production in late 2015, could not have possibly imagined that a populistic outsider like Donald Trump would end up in the White House rather than the establishment candidate represented by Roan. Furthermore, the film’s depiction of societal unrest looks somewhat similar to the events that unfolded on American streets four years later during the George Floyd protests. DeMonaco’s villains are generic, lacking the specific nuance required to reflect the complex political landscape that actually emerged.
What does make this film watchable, to a degree, is the strength of its supporting cast. Mykelti Williamson delivers a warm, grounded performance as Joe Dixon, the noble store owner who becomes an unexpected sanctuary for the protagonists. Joseph Julian Soria is effective as his Mexican immigrant assistant, Marcos Dali, bringing a sense of camaraderie and loyalty to the proceedings. Betty Gabriel, who plays Laney Rucker—a former "purger" turned volunteer paramedic—provides the film with its most resembling moral anchor. Frank Grillo, repeating his role from The Purge: Anarchy, is solid as Sergeant Leo Barnes, though his efforts are often undercut by the film's erratic pacing. Ultimately, the cast’s efforts are commendable, but they are not enough to paper over the cracks in DeMonaco’s script and direction.
In comparison to the 2013 original, which was a tight, efficient film that used its low budget to its advantage, Election Year represents a step backward in terms of narrative focus. The 2013 film, reviewed previously, managed to use a simple premise to create a biting commentary on American society without becoming bogged down in clumsy political allegory. While the first film had its clichés and a villain whose motivation felt tacked on, it maintained a consistent tone that made its limited scope feel like a stylistic choice rather than a lack of talent. Election Year, by contrast, tries to do too much—combining action, horror, and explicit political messaging—and fails to excel in any of them.
Consequently, The Purge: Election Year remains a fascinating, if flawed, entry in the series. It serves as a snapshot of American politics in the mid-2010s, captured in a genre film that tried to be more than just a slasher movie. However, its clumsy execution, dated political predictions, and logical inconsistencies prevent it from being a good film. It is a product of its time, and like many such products, it is best viewed now as a historical curiosity rather than a piece of enduring cinema. The franchise proved sticky enough to survive diminishing returns, but Election Year is arguably the point where the creative well ran dry, resulting in a film that is loud, busy, and ultimately forgettable.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
==
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo Substack https://draxster.substack.com/
InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo Leodex: https://leodex.io/?ref=drax Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7 BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9
