Trekkies who came out of theaters after seeing Universal Pictures and Blumhouse's The Purge (2013) for the first time must have been thinking to themselves, “Oh, this filmmaker is a Star Trek fan, too.” Or, quite possibly, “Hey, someone ripped off, Star Trek!” The successful horror movie, which is written and directed by James DeMonaco, envisions a United States of the future where crime supposedly no longer exists.
However, for one night every year (12 hours to be precise) all forms of crime are legal! If it sounds a bit like the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Return of the Archons,” that’s because DeMonaco was partially inspired by the nearly 60-year-old science fiction story.
In a new book, the filmmaker discusses the genesis of The Purge and how Gene Roddenberry’s beloved sci-fi universe influenced the now 55-year-old auteur to create a macabre masterpiece. DeMonaco explains in the Blumhouse book, Horror’s New Wave, which is on sale now. DeMonaco said (via People):
“My dad was a Star Trek fanatic, and he would tell me, 'You’re sitting down, and you’re watching Star Trek with me.' So, that created this love of sci-fi and specifically of Star Trek. 'Return of the Archons' was an episode that stayed in my head. I can’t say it was a direct inspiration; I think it was one of those inspirations that came almost after I came up with the idea. It was an indirect coupling with something my wife said in a road rage incident that inspired the initial idea. Also, I despise guns and what I feel is the lack of gun-control laws in America.”
“The Return of the Archons” featured a similar premise to The Purge as those seemingly peaceful people “of the body” on the planet Beta III observed a bizarre and violent Festival. Once the Red Hour struck at 6 p.m. the followers of Landru (practically everyone minus a small number of those who tried to resist) went berserk committing heinous crimes legally until 6 a.m. the next morning. DeMonaco continued by saying in the book:
“I think these three elements — Star Trek, my wife in the road rage incident, and my hatred of guns — led me to The Purge. My wife and I were cut off by a drunk driver, and I got into an actual fistfight with the driver. He was out of his mind before the cops came. My wife said, 'I wish we all had one free one a year.' She’s a nice woman. She’s not a terrible person, but I knew what she meant, because it was such an egregiously grotesque moment of human behavior by this man. That stayed with me, this idea of a free one.”
In the book, DeMonaco also credits filmmaker Elio Petri’s 1965 sci-fi movie The 10th Victim as a source of inspiration. Today, The Purge franchise includes five feature films which have made a worldwide total of $535.3 million at the box office. Please, let's not discuss the short-lived TV show. Critics lambasted each of the big-screen installments, so not one of flicks registers higher than 58% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. Check out all of the entries' individual “Rotten” grades below:
The Purge: Rotten Tomatoes Scores (Tomatometer | Critics Ratings)
The Purge (41%)
The Purge: Anarchy (58%)
The Purge: Election Year (55%)
The First Purge (55%)
The Forever Purge (48%)
The snooty critics can whine all they want about DeMonaco's entertaining Purge movies. The fact is, though, that horror fans have flocked to theaters in countless countries around the world over the years which helped The Purge franchise become a half-a-billion-dollar hit in cinemas on the global stage.
Now, if you’re a newcomer to the Star Trek fandom, I highly recommend watching the TOS season 1 episode “The Return of the Archons.” After, you should go check out The Purge (2013). It’s both fun and fascinating to witness the parallels between them. And for more Trek content, visit the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.