The Purge
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 7, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
17
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The PlaylistDrew TaylorJun 4, 2013
The Purge manages to be smart, scary, and subversive. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubJun 6, 2013
There are flaws, but also some fun surprises. Much closer to Hitchcock than "Hostel," this is what can happen when a pile of trash falls into the hands of a talented and resourceful director (James DeMonaco).
70
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlJun 4, 2013
As in so many Hollywood spectacles, the message and medium are at hopeless odds... Still, the set-up is arresting, the domestic scenes well observed and acted, and the payoffs involving that Roomba toy excellent. Also, a late-film twist isn't a surprise, exactly, but it is delicious. Read full review
68
Film.comMatt PatchesJun 5, 2013
There’s gold in the premise of “The Purge” and its dismissal of subtlety. But like the residents of its world, when given the opportunity, it drops restraint and goes for blood. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJun 5, 2013
The Purge clearly has a lot on its mind, but it never really manages to express it. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchKevin C. JohnsonJun 6, 2013
Good but not-good-enough schlocker. Read full review
60
NPRIan BuckwalterJun 7, 2013
The Purge is mostly a genre picture trying to layer on some prestige by way of social commentary. The latter falls flat; the film is actually stronger when it just goes for our baser instincts. Read full review
60
Total FilmNeil SmithMay 31, 2013
James DeMonaco’s blood-splattered thriller begins well before expiring slowly from multiple improbabilities. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJun 6, 2013
So, fans, gear up for rock-em-sock-em action, yet don’t be disappointed if much of the goonery seems a bit tepid and, dare I say, staged. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 6, 2013
The people of 2022 may “release the beast” by slaughtering their fellow Americans. In 2013, that’s still what we go to the movies for. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigJun 6, 2013
Makes its point ham-fistedly and then devolves into a blood-spattered slasher movie. It also unashamedly cribs from more disturbing films like "Straw Dogs," "Funny Games" and "A Clockwork Orange." Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 6, 2013
DeMonaco shows a sure hand at building tension. Too bad the film devolves into a series of home-invasion clichés. The Purge was almost on to something. Read full review
50
New York PostLou LumenickJun 6, 2013
After a wickedly promising start, this pointed political satire quickly deteriorates into a fairly routine, if sporadically quite effective, home-invasion thriller. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJun 5, 2013
After establishing this interesting premise, writer/director James DeMonaco only scratches the surface of its implications before devolving into a creepy roundelay of murders and deaths averted. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 5, 2013
The result is inchoate: not involving enough to work as a thriller, and too self-defeating to mean anything. Read full review
50
VarietyLeslie FelperinJun 4, 2013
The film’s thudding shocks and predictability dull its edge. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungJun 1, 2013
What should be a clammy exercise in claustrophobic, queasy tension becomes, in the hands of writer/director James DeMonaco, an underpowered compendium of over-familiar scare tactics and sledgehammer-subtle social satire. Read full review
42
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJun 6, 2013
So here I am, trying to like The Purge because I’m drawn to its simple and horrific premise, and it’s treating me (and you) as if we have the IQs of lawn ornaments. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 6, 2013
The message just gets louder and louder, cruder and cruder, which is too bad because Mr. DeMonaco knows how to set a stage. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 4, 2013
The filmmakers are too much in love with their made-up holiday to observe it to the fullest. Read full review
40
The GuardianMike McCahillMay 31, 2013
The film doesn't develop its one good idea so much as stumble around in the dark with it for 85 minutes, crashing noisily into the furniture. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonNigel FloydMay 31, 2013
The film's would-be subversive ideas about the kneejerk appeal of social violence get lost in the mix. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 29, 2013
This movie starts from a premise so sociologically batty it’s hard to take any of its subsequent terrors seriously, which means tension doesn’t so much fly out the window as fail to even get up the driveway. Read full review
38
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJun 7, 2013
The problem with high concepts like this is cooking up a story and characters to go along with it. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJun 7, 2013
Instead of being a creepy B-movie about the necessity of suppressing one's animalistic urges, The Purge is just an uninspired film. Read full review
38
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJun 5, 2013
Mostly, it’s just a clumsy lecture about who we’re becoming, haves vs have-nots, with the haves armed to the teeth. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJun 5, 2013
A rote home-invasion thriller afraid to be seen as just another rote home-invasion thriller, the film turgidly grasps for profundity by framing bloodlust as patriotic duty. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 6, 2013
A routine home invasion movie more interested in B-horror tropes and bloodletting than a thought-provoking look at "Hunger Games"-ish class warfare. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedJun 11, 2013
As a nauseating variation on the home-invasion theme, The Purge is as sickening as it is dreary. Read full review
25
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 9, 2013
This is quite possibly the most moronic motion picture I have seen thus far in 2013 and that's saying a lot. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJun 9, 2013
The Purge isn’t just stupid; it’s also pretentious and often makes no sense. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 6, 2013
The movie even makes night-vision-goggle scares more irksome, a rare feat. Read full review
20
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelJun 6, 2013
The Purge is one of those unimaginative horror flicks that depend on skreeky music and sudden appearances to startle, but never actually frighten, the audience. The characters are undeveloped, the twists clumsily telegraphed and unsurprising. Read full review
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