Poster For THE FIRST PURGE Wants To Make America Great Again

Universal just shot over the first poster for The First Purge, the latest installment in the studio's long-running (and deeply cynical) horror series. We are, quite frankly, astonished at how simple, effective and blatantly political this thing is.

I mean...holy shit.

Unless we're having the wool pulled over our eyes (and we don't think we are: this poster came directly from Universal), this is the actual first poster for Gerard McMurray's The First Purge, and - as you can see - it's pretty upfront about what kind of message it's hoping to send. This franchise has become increasingly political as time's gone on, but if this one-sheet's any indication, The First Purge will be the series' most politically-charged installment yet.

Then again, maybe it won't and this is just a particularly clever marketing stunt. Let's see what we can learn from the film's official plot synopsis:

"Behind every tradition lies a revolution.  Next Independence Day, witness the rise of our country’s 12 hours of annual lawlessness.  Welcome to the movement that began as a simple experiment: The First Purge.

To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community.  But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the marginalized, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation."

Okay, yeah, so, "politically-charged" seems a safe bet. We're hyped, and we're giving a massive round of applause to the one-sheet above. You done good, Universal. Fingers crossed that the movie lives up to the poster. 

The First Purge arrives on July 4th.

(Note: Header image by Gage Skidmore, used with permission via Flickr)