10 Awful Horror Movies That Threw Away Brilliant Premises

"One night a year, all crime is legal." 

With a tagline like that, The Purge seemed like it couldn't fail.

So, it's too bad that the first entry in this franchise barely scratched the surface. Instead, the original Purge focuses on one family trying to stop Purgers from breaking in. Since our protagonists act like complete morons, it's hard to be on their side, especially when they let the Purgers in within a few minutes.

Since this story only looks at a single family, the Purge concept isn't relevant for the most part, and if that notion was taken out of the equation, the film would feel like a bog-standard home invasion flick.

Despite being a disappointment, though, The Purge made bank, allowing it to churn out a myriad of sequels. Thankfully, the follow-ups play with the wider premise well, showing how this barbaric law affects the poor, politicians, and the United States in general. 

Granted, not every Purge movie is great, but it is commendable how each of them tries something different. However, looking at those sequels just reaffirms what a waste the first film was. Seriously, why did creator James DeMonaco devise such a magnificent idea if they weren't going to do anything worthwhile with it?