15 Recent Horror Movies Destined To Become Halloween Essentials

15. The Purge: Anarchy

With his first film, writer/director James DeMonaco presented a decent concept to audiences: the world will be subjected to an annual purge, a twelve hour period of unadulterated anarchy where anything goes. Frustratingly, this concept was wrapped up in a confined movie, which for the most part saw Ethan Hawke and his family hunkering down for the night and waiting it out. Obviously there was a bit more to it than that, but you get the gist.

That all goes out of the window with his sequel, which is a marked improvement on its predecessor and a taut, violent film in its own right. This time around the focus is spread out across Los Angeles, with various factions – including a pre Crossbones Frank Grillo – playing the survival game. The result is a film as downbeat as it is nail-biting. Scary in a very real way.