Mexican ranch hand Juan (Tenoch Huerta) and his wife, Adela (Ana de la Reguera), have recently crossed the border and are working in Texas when they are forced to weather Purge Night, an annual holiday when all crime is permitted for a 12-hour period. They wait it out in a safehouse, while Juan’s boss, Dylan (Josh Lucas), and family do the same from their luxury ranch. Yet when they all emerge, they learn that the purgers – most of them enraged white nationalists – are refusing to stop. It’s a timely argument against self-regulation instead of safeguards, and an admonishment of a government that views human collateral damage as an inevitability.
The fifth and final instalment of writer James DeMonaco’s satirical horror franchise offers a twist on the theme of immigration when Juan, Dylan and their families team up and head for the Mexican border, which is temporarily accepting American refugees. The cartoonish tone of the relentless violence feels at odds with the otherwise sombre, apocalyptic mood.
