The Many Lives of The Purge

<p> With a worldwide box office of more than a half-billion dollars <I>The Purge</I> franchise has become one of the top horror franchises in film history with many reviewers wowed by the concept of the series and differentiating on the execution. With five films and a TV show (and another film possibly in the works) the series seems unstoppable. The franchise's main concept taps into underlying tensions throughout America. The vast differences between the films are largely due to the ever-changing casts including actors writers and directors so that each film has its own unique commentary sometimes getting right at the nerve of social issues that seem to be best discussed in fictional worlds' metaphors and parables.</p><p> Acclaimed film and television critics and horror scholars such as Dale Bailey Jason V. Brock Chesya Burke Lisa Morton Katherine A. Troyer and Kevin J. Wetmore give a wide range of analyses of just what <I>The Purge</I> films are saying about modern-day America and the world. Essays in the collection examine politics violence Trump Freud class issues feminism race and more.</p>