10 More Most Shocking Horror Movie Unmaskings

6. The Leader - The Purge

Smiley Movie
Universal Pictures

Referred to in the credits simply as Polite Leader, the smug prick at the front of the accompanying image had a pivotal part to play in setting the stage for James DeMonaco's The Purge.

While there's currently five movies - with a sixth in development - and a now-axed two-season TV offering to the Purge name, DeMonaco's original 2013 picture is what started all of this. Based around a fascinating concept, it was important for The Purge to sets its stall out early.

That 'early' saw the first movie introduce the base notion of a crime-free America with minimal unemployment, where all crime is made legal on one night of the year. From there, it's the arrival of Polite Leader and his masked crew that really hammers home what to expect from The Purge.

As Ethan Hawke's James Sandin and family are shown as the audience's 'in' to Purge Night, we see James secure his home for the evening as the Sandins look to block out the outside world and quietly go about their own business. When a wounded stranger ends up taken in by the family, that brings Polite Leader to their door - as he's on the hunt for said stranger.

Once Police Leader removes his mask, it's then that the Sandins are made fully aware that they either hand over this stranger or Polite Leader and his group of blood-thirsty pals will break in and add the Sandins to their hit list.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.