Highlights

• "The Purge" sympathizers would enjoy similar horror films that delve into humanity's dark nature, making for an intense viewing experience.
• "The Human Race" and "Hell Fest" are good options for fans who enjoy survival scenarios with impossible odds, akin to "The Purge."
• Films like "The Platform" and "Barbarian" offer intense social commentary and brutal violence, aligning with the themes of "The Purge."

The Purge movies imagine a universe where people can do anything in 12 hours and not suffer any consequences. While intuitive minds might think theft, arson, probably robberies here and there, horror fans immediately know "no punishment for crime" means access to a lot of murder. Interestingly enough, The Purge tries to show vicious murder with its own take on social commentary.

Those who loved The Purge might be itching for new ways of experiencing similar concepts. Surely, horror films that depict humanity's worst natures outside The Purge, right? As it turns out, some films might just fix that The Purge itch.

Updated on 19 February 2024 by Rhenn Taguiam: With 2021’s The Forever Purge taking the acclaimed dystopian crime film to a horrific future of the 2049 Purge, fans of the franchise may want to try exploring other horror films with similar themes that could test their mettle with the horror genre. As The Purge series explores themes such as the class divide and economic inequality under the guise of game-like mechanics and the normalcy of violence, certain films using similar approaches may be a viewer’s next challenge. These include films where a double-booked renter encounters a dark secret in her apartment, participants in an experiment are forced to explore the notion of survival in exchange for dignity, people with conflicting personalities are forced to work together to stop lethal booby-trapped rooms, and a family that has to fight for their survival against doopelgangers.

15 The Human Race (2013)

IMDb Score: 5

At first glance, The Human Race doesn't feel like a horror film at all. After all, even its title card makes it seem like a sci-fi action flick. However, its premise certainly makes up for it. After encountering a flash of light, 80 strangers end up in an empty city block. They hear instructions in their head that they must run, never step on the grass, and never get lapped by anyone twice. Soon, racers start dying – some step on the grass, others get lapped twice, and a few force other competitors to die in their stead.

Despite the straightforward premise, The Human Race gives an interesting take on the "sole survivor" genre. Adding to the tension is the fact the lead happens to be an amputee. Like The Purge, The Human Race sets impossible odds that the protagonist has to conquer in order to survive.

14 Hell Fest (2018)

IMDb Score: 5.5

Traveling theme parks are wonderfully unique attractions that not everyone gets to visit. While a horror theme park might sound tempting for fans of the genre, having a murderous stalker inside will make the thrills a touch too terrifying. In Hell Fest, a masked man decides to stalk a group of friends and kill them one by one as they enjoy a horror theme park.

Granted, Hell Fest isn't exactly brilliant. However, as with The Purge, it's terrifying to see how an "innocent" agenda can turn horrifying at the hands of the wrong people. In The Purge, the goal to "lower crime rates" resulted in a "policy" that got twisted to "promote" crime and murder. In Hell Fest, a horror theme park becomes a serial killer's avenue to "dress up" and disguise his horrific acts.

13 The Strangers (2008)

IMDb Score: 6.1

Horror films tend to age miserably over time. This isn't necessarily a case with The Strangers, with an initial subpar theatrical release that ended up becoming a sleeper hit. In the film, the couple James Hoyt and Kristen McKay visit the former's isolated summer home. Unfortunately for them, three masked intruders make their way inside their safe abode.

Unlike other horror flicks, The Strangers highlights the sheer horror of death being a random act. Whereas the usual classic slashers try to "explain" horrific situations with negative behavior (e.g., alcohol, drugs), The Strangers show an unsettling truth: death just happens. Both The Strangers and The Purge highlight this idea.

12 Vacancy (2007)

IMDb Score: 6.2

Motels provide safe havens for people who need a place to stay when they're away from their homes. In Vacancy, motels are the best venue to create snuff films. At least, this is what couple David and Amy Fox discover as they see gruesome videotapes and surveillance equipment in their room.

As with other 2000s horror flicks, Vacancy has its fair share of campiness. However, it's unique in its reliance on psychological terror to instill a sense of fear in the horrifying nature of being in a strange motel room in the middle of nowhere. And like in The Purge, Vacancy proves that strangers aren't always trustworthy – and in a place where survival is a requirement, trust is an expensive commodity.

11 Escape Room (2019)

IMDb Score: 6.4

Claustrophobic rooms and death traps aren't new in the horror genre. Apart from Saw's signature traps and Cube's sickening six-sided rooms of horror, not many films made a mark in the "death games" subgenre. Thankfully, Escape Room makes an interesting twist to the growing phenomenon of its titular activity. After all, instead of escaping a puzzle room for bragging rights, what if actual lives are on the line?

Sadly, Escape Room doesn't completely capitalize on its interesting novel concept of escape room death traps. Given a sequel is in the works, Escape Room 2 could hopefully provide engrossing puzzles that viewers may also enjoy. As with The Purge, viewers of Escape Room will ask "would they have done the same thing?"

10 The Platform

IMDb Score: 7

Unlike the typical platformer game, where players need to jump from one platform to the next to get to the next level, the story of The Platform revolves around lasting as long as possible with only one Platform providing food and nourishment for hundreds of volunteers. In the film's story, protagonist Goreng volunteers for a social experiment where he's supposed to last for half a year in "The Pit." This "tower" of sorts comprises countless floors where one Platform brings food from the top level to the lowest level, and lower-level volunteers eat what's left on the Platform after it's been gorged on by higher-level residents.

Goreng finds out that rooms are shuffled at the start of every month, where they might end up somewhere higher and access better food, or someplace lower and eat even less. The film explores the measures Goreng and his roommate Trimagasi will take for survival, all the while pondering whether survival requires their dignity as a price.

9 Barbarian

IMDb Score: 7.0

Included among horror films said to have elevated the genre, Barbarian manages to pull off something akin to The Purge's version of social commentary while still maintaining an escalation of frights, surprises, and brutal displays of gory violence. Set in Detroit, Barbarian follows Tess Marshall as she books a rental house before a job interview. She's disappointed to find herself double-booked, and ends up staying with the stranger, Keith. Similar to the Sandins in the first Purge film, who found that a stranger sneaking into their home was the least of their worries, so too was Keith for Tess in Barbarian.

As Tess and Keith stay the night in separate rooms, the house they're in starts to reveal signs of another settler who doesn't have their best intentions in mind. What follows is a cat and mouse chase that has Tess eventually discover the horrific reality of not just their assailant, but the house's history.

8 Cube

IMDb Score: 7.1

Considered a cult classic among horror films, the infamous death traps in the eponymous Cube began in the film of the same name. Released in 1997, Cube treads the line between sci-fi and horror with its basic premise: characters end up trapped in a cube-shaped room with hatches on each floor and wall. As Cube begins, an inmate named Alderson wakes up alone and establishes the film's stakes quickly when the room he enters has a razor wire trap that chops his body to pieces. Unfortunately for the film's true protagonists, they had no real idea what was going on - and it's up to them to witness the horrors of the Cube's traps and attempt to escape.

While their attempts at understanding the Cube's mechanisms make the film partly a thriller and mystery experience, it's also the assorted personalities of the characters that add tension to the plot. Soon, paranoia and desperation overtake the characters, and personal agendas begin to make it much harder to escape their captivity. With no food, water, or even a bathroom to support them, escaping in the Cube is inevitably a race against time.

7 Don't Breathe (2016)

IMDb Score: 7.1

In Don't Breathe, three delinquents attempt to rob a blind Gulf War veteran. Unfortunately for them, the veteran has retained his instincts, and won't hesitate to kill intruders in his home. As the title implies, the slightest movement could help the villain catch the delinquents in their struggle to escape his house.

While not as engrossing as The Purge, Don't Breathe does explore the former's trope of being at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Don't Breathe presents a unique twist on the home invasion genre and should be entertaining for fans looking for something new.

6 You're Next (2011)

IMDb Score: 6.6

Slasher films are as predictable as slicing cake, and You're Next knows this. Consequently, it adds dark humor to its repertoire of tricks. In You're Next, young Erin and her boyfriend Crispian visit the latter's family for a reunion. Unsurprisingly, things go wrong, as killers wearing various animal masks break into the house.

Despite the violence and gore, You're Next compensates for its "predictable" nature with fitting humor that will appeal to both horror fans and regular viewers. Moreover, Erin is a fresh take on the struggling horror heroine.

5 Hide And Seek (2013)

IMDb Score: 6.4

It's one thing to actively stop a violent home invasion, but it's another thing entirely to confirm whether people have already "invaded" a house. In Hide and Seek, two families begin to notice that strangers might be living inside their homes. And when their survival is put at risk, the families are forced to fight back.

Despite being a low-budget film, Hide and Seek is a stellar addition to the home invasion genre. Feeling more of a mystery than a horror film, Hide and Seek will force viewers to question the "peace" they notice in their own homes. And unlike other horror films, Hide and Seek contains a small twist that will want viewers to rewatch the film from another point of view. While The Purge remains an entertaining alt-history rewatch, Hide and Seek is simply an artistic take on the home invasion genre worth revisiting every few years.

4 Us

IMDb Score: 6.8

After the success of Jordan Peele's Get Out comes Us, a seemingly-typical doppelganger-themed horror film interspersed with themes conveying the ramifications of privilege in the United States. When the Wilsons embark on a family trip, they're interrupted by the appearance of a family of four who look just like them. Called the Tethered, they attempt to kill the Wilsons and eventually reveal a more sinister backstory.

Although closer to a full-blown horror film compared to the more social critique that is Get Out, the presentation of Us remains thrilling enough to get scares in while at the same time remaining capable of making viewers ponder its thematic implications beyond the frights. The "kill of be killed" sentiment of The Purge remains in Us, although the latter now borders on Twilight Zone in terms of its sci-fi concepts.

3 Midsommar

IMDb Score: 7.1

Just like how The Purge tries to show how ignoring a broken system paves the way for its abuse, Midsommar shows the horrors of misunderstanding traditions and grief. The film begins when a grieving Dani is reluctantly invited by her boyfriend, Christian, to attend a midsummer festival in the Swedish commune of their friend's family. The already emotionally-distant couple is driven further apart by the traditions of the commune, which involve psychedelic substances, mating rituals, and even senicide.

While Christian and his friends try to leave, the commune gives Dani much-needed room to process her sadness. While The Purge takes its social commentary and places it in a blatant dystopian setting, Midsommar goes beyond its themes of processing grief with the exploration of "the Other" through conflicts between esotericism and the academe, gender and age roles, as well as the definition of a community.

2 The Belko Experiment (2016)

IMDb Score: 6.2

The plot of The Belko Experiment is straightforward: kill or get killed. In this horrific take on office drama, the seemingly unimposing Belko Industries building becomes the site of a horrific experiment. As the premise implies, the employees have to kill a certain number of colleagues or else more than that number would be killed by the recent implant in their skulls.

In a fight for survival, employee Mike and his colleagues have to end the experiment while stopping others from killing them. Sadly, despite starting with a strong premise, The Belko Experiment lacks the "punch" to engage the audience once the violence begins. However, the film is still a great attempt to give a unique take to the sole survivor genre.

1 Battle Royale (2000)

IMDb Score: 7.5

What better film to watch after the grisly dystopia of The Purge than the grisly dystopia of Battle Royale? An adaptation of the novel of the same name, Battle Royale is set in an alternate history where the "BR ACT" has created the Battle Royale: a tournament that pits students in a fight to the death to curb teenage delinquency. In the story, middle schooler Shuya and his class end up in the said tournament, which takes place on a remote island. If no victor is declared within three days, all of them will die.

Despite its sickening nature, Battle Royale is a grisly look into a reality where survival through violence is forced into a crowd. Whereas The Purge tries to weave social commentary into its premise, Battle Royale explores these times by the way Shuya and his classmates interact with each other.