The Purge premiered at the Stanley Film Festival on May 2, 2013, and Universal Pictures theatrically released it in the United States on June 7, 2013.

[8] In 2014, a political party called the "New Founding Fathers of America" are voted into office following an economic collapse and pass a law sanctioning the "Purge", an annual event wherein all crime (including murder) is legal, and emergency services are unavailable for 12 hours.

Businessman James Sandin returns to his home in an affluent Los Angeles gated community to wait out the Purge with his wife, Mary, and their children, Zoey and Charlie.

The family is assured the security system manufactured by James' company will keep them safe while Zoey meets her boyfriend, Henry.

As the year's Purge begins, James enables the security system, and the family disperses to go about their everyday routines.

Zoey returns to her room and finds Henry, who had snuck in before the security system was activated, planning on confronting her father about his disapproval of their relationship.

The family sees a gang of masked, heavily armed young people arriving at the front lawn through the surveillance cameras.

The leader demands the Sandins release the homeless to them, warning that failure to comply will result in the gang invading their home and killing them.

Mary stops him from killing the remaining neighbors, not wanting to engage in anymore violence, and decides they will peacefully wait out the remainder of the Purge.

Grace attempts to seize control the following morning, but Mary violently breaks her nose with the butt of a shotgun and then smashes her face into a dining table in retaliation, telling her once again no more killing.

DeMonaco was partially inspired to write the script based on a comment from his wife following a road rage incident.

Both DeMonaco and Lemercier recalled initially experiencing negative feedback while seeking funding for their script, being told it was "too un-American" due to its themes of violence and gun control.

[11] DeMonaco also encountered testing response cards from viewers who expressed approval for the purge concept, which he found disturbing and antithetical to the film's message.