The Purge was 2013’s best concept but the execution of the film was duller than hoped for. If you don’t know about the movie then it revolves around one night every year when all crime is legal (as a genius government way of keeping everyone grounded.) And yes, it goes terribly wrong when families and good citizens have to lock themselves up in their houses in order to stop being murdered legally. Yikes. With the upcoming sequel that hopefully will do better than the original (the plot sort of segued into tedium by the second half,) comedy writer Johnny Ray Gill directs this imagined sequel called The Purge: The Morning After. And yes, it is pretty funny.
Elmer goes to work the morning after The Purge to address some issues with co-worker Dan. Judging by CCTV footage, Dan had used the crime spree opportunity to enter Elmer’s home and murder his entire family. However, Dan is adamant that this didn’t go down and comedy ensues…
Answering that important question of what exactly would happen after The Purge, this is a wonderful little short film that has the darkly comic aspect of confronting people’s shitty actions. It revolves around the consequences that people seemingly forgot when enacting The Purge. Imagine if you were unsuccessful killing someone you knew only to sit awkwardly with them in the office or in a bar. Gill has developed a movie that deals with this and has fantastic delivery. What works well is how highly real it is and that is probably down to the fact that the movie was on a budget. Although not all the jokes or acting gel completely, there are still some humorous moments that feel utterly believable, not to mention the added layer of hilarity brought by the setting, a nursery, where all players are watering plants and wearing pinafores. It won’t appeal to everyone but would be a genius series to lead up to the sequel.
