The last movie in the Purge franchise, The Purge: Election Year, ended with a newly elected president swooping in to un-legalize crime, once and for all. But while the purge itself may be over, the Purge movies are thankfully still going strong.This Independence Day, the upcoming Purge prequel, The First Purge, will hit theaters. And according to the new trailer that dropped Friday, the thing is going to be a gloriously bloody and over-the-top look at how the whole purging business came to be—starting with the first prototype Purge on Staten Island. There are riots! Freaky Purge night parties! And a lot of people in goofy costumes killing one another, since what else have we come to expect from a Purge movie?"Citizens, this will be a tradition we celebrate every year," the president says in an announcement from the Oval Office, "Join the first Purge!"According to the trailer, the whole idea for an annual night of legalized mayhem was dreamt up by a doctor named May Updale, played by Marisa Tomei, who figured the whole thing would be a nice catharsis for a troubled America. "If we want to save our country," Updale says, "we must release all our anger in one night."That doesn't sound like entirely sound logic, obviously, and it seems like Updale starts to question it herself, once the Purge starts to spiral out of control. "What have I done?" she asks in the trailer. Well, she's kicked off a great franchise full of blood, horror, and heavy-handed political commentary about patriotism in America, so that's something.Give the trailer a watch above and catch the full film this July 4, unless Trump has instituted a real Purge by then.Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.Follow VICE on Twitter.
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