Delayed Reaction: The Purge

The Pitch: For one 12 hour period every year, it's legal to commit any crime. One family tries to protect themselves when their security system fails.

How I Came Into It: This is a great idea for a horror/thriller. It's high concept. It's malleable. Pretty much limitless potential.

Why I Saw It: As an entry point for a potential franchise this is simple, effective, and cheap. Home invasion is a good way to get thrills and scares. On paper, this works.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: Then there's the story. It's a complete mess. No character acts like a human and the entirety of the story relies on the people being complete idiots. The boyfriend wants to kill the dad because...it doesn't matter. He's dead. The son is able to open the house that easily because...I don't know. They needed to get the one guy into the house. It's crazy too, because they have a really obvious story about the neighbors turning on the main family from the start that would've been way more interesting that the contrived story it actually told. Now, this movie was awful. Thankfully, the sequel could drop all the characters.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend