Ranking every movie in The Purge franchise: Which one is the best?

The newest installment in the Blumhouse/Universal Horror Franchise, The Forever Purge, is now available to watch in theaters everywhere. The newest Purge film helped Universal to have a massive Box Office weekend, as it was one of three Universal films being shown in theaters over the holiday.

The latest film follows an on-the-run couple who, after their first Purge, meet a group of people who attempt to continue the Purge after it has been outlawed.

This long-running franchise was started in 2013 and has found success in the film world, and in a short-running television series. For these rankings, we decided to stick mainly to the film side of The Purge franchise and decide how we feel the films in this franchise should be ranked.

Forever Purge: Which Purge movie is the best?

5. The First Purge

The First Purge was a “too little, too late” scenario for me as the franchise tried to backtrack after The Purge: Election Year and show us the origins of the annual Purge. It still had the same feel as the rest of the Purge franchise, but it didn’t do enough to really stand on its own within the series.

4. The Purge: Election Year

The Purge: Election Year had the daunting task of following the best film in the franchise. In retrospect, it seems like they jumped the gun a little bit with this one.

The whole goal of Election Year was to end the annual Purge, but they continued to make more movies following the same subject. This film still has its moments of tense action, and bringing back Frank Grillo was a massive plus, but when compared to the rest of the franchise, it misses more than it hits.

3. The Purge

The original in this franchise is the smallest in scale, but still packs one of the biggest punches. The concept of the yearly Purge was still fresh in this film, and the inclusion of Ethan Hawke as one of the main characters might have helped out as well. I very much enjoyed the smaller scope and “invading” aspect of the film.

I thought this one, while not my favorite, was the most realistic of the franchise because it preyed on the internal fear everyone has of being invaded in their own home. This is definitely the scariest of the franchise, and still a fun horror movie to watch to this day.

2. The Forever Purge

Let me just start this by saying I was more than shocked by The Forever Purge. The Purge franchise, up to this point, had been going downhill since The Purge: Anarchy,(the previous Purge film before this is my least favorite) but there was something about The Forever Purge that just drew me in.

Director Everardo Gout (directing only his second feature film) didn’t want to bring a generic look or feel to this movie. He brought style and tension that the franchise had been lacking for a while, and he included enough self-awareness that made the film feel as fun as it was.

Within the world and canon of The Purge films, The Forever Purge doesn’t make much sense but watching this film was the first time since Anarchy that I really enjoyed a Purge film.

1. The Purge: Anarchy

The Purge: Anarchy is a genuinely fun and well-made horror film. I think this franchise has lived and died off the backs of some generic horror tropes, but with Anarchy, we are fully enveloped into the “Purge” world and have to follow the horrors and turmoil that are going on within.

Following Frank Grillo in this film, which honestly feels more like an action/thriller, was a perfect way to witness the world that the Purge was attempting to set up in the original.

It was a heart-racing movie that had a few emotional moments that really worked because of how you interacted with the characters. This is the one Purge film that I consistently recommend to people who are wanting to experience this franchise at its peak.

Have you seen The Forever Purge yet? How would you rank this franchise?