James DeMonaco's near-future horror feature The Purge has the kind of highly unlikely, yet highly compelling high-concept premise that makes you sit up and say, "Okay... tell me more." Here's the sit-rep: a decade from now, American society has been completely transformed by the "new Founding Fathers" who rose to power out of the ashes of a conflict-torn, economically troubled nation and devised a radical new plan for ridding the streets of violent crime. One night a year, the citizenry is granted 12 glorious hours to let their inner bad guy run wild. Every potentially criminal act -- including robbery, rape and murder -- is 100 percent legal and carried out with the complete absence of law enforcement and emergency services. It may sound crazy, but according to The Purge, this act of purging one's pent-up anger (not to mention the weaker members of society who are the victims of this one-night crimewave) works. The U.S of A is once again a prosperous and stable country, a place where you can feel good about living, working and raising a family... provided they aren't all slaughtered in the annual purge, of course.

With Halloween on the horizon, horror movies are crawling out of the woodwork to seize on the public appetite for all things spooky. Last week, the excellent anthology V/H/S opened in limited theatrical release following a run on VOD, while next Friday brings the return of the powerhouse Paranormal Activity franchise, now in its fourth edition. Before that well-known brand name clogs up multiplex screens in a week's time, three lesser-known horror titles open today to get a jump on the competition. One of them is actually spooky, while the only scary thing about the other two is that someone thought they were worth making.