Ethan Hawke is just a sneaky bastard. First reports surface earlier this year that he’s working on another sequel to Before Sunrise, then that the script is done, then that the film has actually been shot. Now we’re learning that he’s had a sci-fi film in the works with director James DeMonaco since the beginning of 2012.
The Film Stage reports that this Hawke-starring film, now called The Purge, has a release date of May 31, 2013 – which means that Universal must have some serious faith in it to put it at the beginning of the summer releases. Produced by Blumhouse Productions – the guys responsible for producing the Paranormal Activity films and Hawke’s latest vehicle Sinister – The Purge has been described as a ‘speculative thriller.’ Another one?
The film centers on a husband and wife (Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey) in the future (!) who must defend their home from a criminal carrying out a “sequence of events” designed to make them into “the monsters whom they hide.” Said psycho has been released from prison (I assume) because of a government sanction that makes murder legal for 12 hours once a year.
Yeah, I’m not kidding on that last bit. How the hell are they going to explain that one, I wonder? It’s an exposition nightmare. Can’t just have a dude escaping from prison, can we, because that’s too easy? Been done before? And “the monsters whom they hide”? I’m getting images of Ethan Hawke turning into a CGI werewolf and it’s a not a pretty picture.
It is early days yet on The Purge, though. Hawke has been a fairly dependable star and Blumhouse has produced some of the best micro-budget horror films in recent memory. I suppose I’m willing to wait and hear more before I make a blanket judgement on this one. But they’re really going to have to explain that government sanction.
The Purge will come May 31, 2013. At least it isn’t Paranormal Activity 12.