Never say never when it comes to horror sequels, especially when Blumhouse is involved. The Purge franchise should have ended with the third film, Election Year, in 2016. There's a rule in Hollywood that if a sequel makes money, then another cash grab sequel is almost always guaranteed. The prequel The First Purge, which nobody wanted, made over $137 million against a $13 million budget. It was supposed to be the final film of the series. That was back in 2018, the same year the horrible The Purge television series debuted on USA. It wasn't popular with the fans and got canceled after season two. Did the franchise end there? The answer is hell no!

The Forever Purge (Rated R; 104 minutes) went to theaters this past summer. No, it's not another prequel. This one is a sequel, set nine years after Election Year. The New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) have regained power in the United States, and one of their first acts was to re-instituted the annual Purge, where one night per year anyone can commit a crime without any consequences. So, basically, you can do whatever you want and get away scot-free within the Purge hours.

The film centers on Juan and Adela (Tenoch Huerta and Ana de la Reguera), a migrate couple living illegally in Texas. Juan works as a farmhand on a ranch owned by the Tucker family. The couple safely survived the Purge by staying in a secured location. However, their lives become in jeopardy the very next day when they encounter the Purge Purification Force (PPF), a group of Purgers intent on killing non-Americans past the Purge hours.

Caleb Tucker (Will Patton) and his family are shocked to learn that some of their farmhands are part of the PPF, who have taken them hostage. Juan and fellow migrate farmhand T.T. come to their rescue, but not before Caleb bites the dust. Caleb's son, Dylan (Josh Lucas), his pregnant wife Cassie (Cassidy Freeman), and his sister Harper (Leven Rambin), as well as Juan and T.T., hop in an oversized tailer-less semi to escape the madness. Before they can flee to a safe haven, they have to locate Adel, who had gone to work like normal, and T.T.'s son.

Final Thoughts

After the disappointing The First Purge, I had little to no expectations for The Forever Purge, and I delayed viewing the movie until this past week. I got to say it's a lot better than I was anticipating, but at the same time, I'm somewhat confused. Is the franchise even considered horror anymore? The first film was a straight-up home invasion flick with plenty of thrills. Anarchy and Election Year had more action than horror, and The First Purge was a pointless mess. What genre is The Forever Purge? There's plenty of action and drama, but I wouldn't call it horror. Yeah, there's mayhem, but not horror.

Many moviegoers called the movie "woke propaganda." Yes, there are social and political messages. Some scenes mimic events that swept our country during the last few years. If you can shut off your mind for 104 minutes and watch the film for what it is, it's not quite as bad as others have made it out to be. Remember, it's only a movie.

The Blu-ray release from Universal Home Entertainment also comes with a DVD and Digital Code. Bonus Features include deleted and alternate storyboard opening, Collapsing the System: Behind The Forever Purge, and Creeptastic Wardrobe.

Overall, The Forever Purge is a soft-reboot of a nearly done-to-death franchise. I thought it would be a carbon copy of the other films, but it turned out to be more entertaining than I was anticipating. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a decent late-at-night flick.