New Apocalyptic Thriller "POPULATION PURGE" Shows Blood, Sweat, and FEAR! (REVIEW)

In the near future, a widespread global pandemic will wipe out a portion of the American public and leave a crumbling society struggling to survive under the order of an authoritarian government regime. But under the surface, something more sinister lies…

Gravitas Ventures presents POPULATION PURGE, a new film by director Brian Johnson, written by Johnson and Toby Osborne.

Population Purge is a film about a global disease that has seemingly wiped out a large portion of the American population, leading to a post-apocalyptic way of living for its citizens. Law and order have dissolved into anarchy, food is scarce, and the American people have turned to fend for themselves, whether that be through isolated scavenging or joining one of the many unnamed gangs that stalk the wasteland hoping to rob or kill anyone that dares cross their path. 

At the beginning of Population Purge, we are introduced to the world through montage and voice-over explaining how the world got to where it is now. Footage of suffering citizens and a tyrannical government is shown while the voice-over states that a government program, disguised as a new viral outbreak of a deadly new disease, was released to manage the population. They even describe the outbreak as a “poison”, genetically engineered to spare people with the rarest blood type, AB positive. They say that those who have survived the disease can now only survive with constant infusions of AB-positive blood, which the government has taken upon itself to continuously ration out to the remaining citizens.

The main protagonists of the film are Maya (Lyndsey Soto) and her grandfather Charlie (Peter Holland), two survivors of the purge who have been living in a retired amusement park far from civilization. The film quickly tells us why they are special, particularly Charlie. Charlie is a natural AB-positive blood source. His unique blood type helps him and Maya survive by trading bags of his blood to a local black market blood dealer in exchange for gold coins, which one can assume is this new world’s currency. Something else that makes Charlie interesting is that he is not registered with District 22’s government. When you are AB positive, you are expected to be registered so that you can help provide blood for the government’s “blood rations” which they give out to citizens in need.

Charlie (left) and Maya (right)

Population Purge primarily focuses on a section of the United States deemed District 22, a name seemingly drawing inspiration from a popular post-apocalyptic franchise that also segmented the remains of a broken country into numbered districts. The ruler of this district is our main antagonist Onslow (S. Lamar Wilson), a gravelly-voiced tyrant with long black hair and a beard that would make any pirate jealous. Onslow works for what remains of the U.S. Government, ruling his district with an iron fist by carrying out the mandatory “purges” that we hear about over the loudspeaker of his run-down government office. Onslow’s motivations lie in the fate of his son, Elijah, who is sick and requires a vast amount of AB-positive blood to save him. And Onslow is prepared to do anything necessary to save his boy.

Onslow in the doctors office seeking advice for his sick son.

It’s an ambitious film, requiring many talented people from all corners of the entertainment industry to fully succeed in telling a story at such a large scale. There are a few big, intricate set pieces such as Charlie’s retired amusement park which consistently fills the frame with interesting props and set design. The vast North Carolina forest plays perfectly for District 22’s wasteland, giving a great sense of scale at how barren their new world has become.

It is difficult to get a feature film made, and with a low budget sometimes the seams start to show. Action scenes containing scavengers and government stormtroopers are scattered throughout the film, oftentimes lacking the visceral sound design that fight scenes desperately require. Certain stock footage establishing shots are mismatched with the interiors, causing a bit of confusion for an audience member. Camera quality and color grading vary throughout, failing to capture a concise, focused look. All of these are problems any independent filmmaker will likely come across when attempting to make a movie of their own. And most of these can be looked past when given an engaging story with developed, interesting characters; something Population Purge also falls short of delivering.

One of the more important issues with Population Purge is how often the backstory of this world confuses its audience with its poor, and often contradictory, logic. We are given a glimpse at what a “purge” looks like at the end of the film. Someone is put in a small room, strapped to a chair, and injected with a vial of clear liquid. This process of “purging” is confusing. As stated during the opening of the movie, a disease was manufactured to kill those who weren’t AB positive, so what is this purge injection process for? Is the injection the disease? Or is the government just blatantly killing people? If an AB-positive person is “purged”, do they survive the injection? What is the point of any of it? Certain characters are introduced and quickly discarded, taking up screen time and adding threads to the already cluttered bunch throughout the main plot. 

Four nameless characters being executed by a government soldier during the film’s introduction.

By the end of the film, everything you have been trying to make sense of is thrown out the window in service of a Shyamalan-level twist. Characters and situations you have seen depicted throughout the movie may or may not have even happened because the script thinks it is more interesting to rip the floor out from under the audience's feet and confuse them even further. Endings like this can be interesting, but if done poorly it can severely damage any investment the audience has put into the characters and further push away any interest one might have had in the film’s resolution.

As the credits rolled many questions remained, most of them unimportant, but they raised interest nonetheless. For example, when Onslow attends an underground auction for black market blood, the bidding is conducted in “bags of gold”. “One bag of gold! Do I hear TWO bags of gold?” What determines a bag? Is this a predetermined amount similar to a roll of quarters? Other slightly more “big picture” questions such as “Why did the government kill a majority of the population in the first place?” Infrastructure is destroyed, and society has collapsed into chaos. Why would you turn your country into a wasteland and make it even harder to manage? Of course, it is never elaborated on why this big scheme happened in the first place. We are simply expected to believe in the evil nature of the movie’s government so that conflict can happen and the story can progress.

Ultimately, Population Purge is an ambitious low budget sci-fi apocalyptic thriller that will give you a few gory kills and a couple of fun performances from its top-billed cast without asking much from you in return.

POPULATION PURGE is available on VOD July 9th

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