The Collector (2009)

By Hurmoth
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Grand Master

Hurmoth

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The Collector is exactly what it is meant to be, a slasher film from the late '70s, early '80s in 2009 and nothing more. It has its scary moments, its cringe inducing moments and it has its moments clearly influenced by the SAW franchise that Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton have been working on for the last three years.

The Collector, originally pitched as a Saw prequel, is about a thief who breaks into a wealthy family's home while they're on vacation, but while attempting to steal from the family safe that holds a priceless stone, Arkin quickly learns he isn't the first intruder.

A nasty, gritty film, The Collector is a brutal slasher film that is definitely worth a viewing.

3 out of 5 stars :D

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Grand Master

Hurmoth

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It wasn't completely full, but there was a large crowd though. The theatre was a lot bigger than I had originally expected. Typically, when I've gone to showings like there in the past, there may be seating for 150-200, but this theatre seemed to have a lot more seating than that. Not sure exactly how many more, but it was HUGE. The screen was even bigger than what I'm use to.

Grand Master

Hurmoth

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FEARNet gave it thumbs up :D

What do you get when you combine the harsh (and occasionally leering) nastiness of the Saw series with the slightly more cerebral approach delivered in "home invasion" thrillers like The Strangers? You'd probably get something that looks a lot like The Collector, which is the directorial debut of screenwriter Marcus Dunstan. (If you've seen the Feast flicks and the Saw sequels, then you're familiar with Dunstan's stuff.) You won't find much Feast-style silliness here, although the Saw fans will certainly notice the inclusion of bleak, brutal horror that's become the touchstone of the Saw franchise. Best of all, The Collector is a simple, basic, and fast-paced horror thriller that wastes nary a frame on unnecessary set-up, languid exposition, or pointless subplots.

All you need to know is this: Our hero is a criminal. Well, not a raving criminal, but Arkin is clearly a whiz when it comes to breaking and entering. Although employed as a handyman, Arkin is compelled to rob an affluent client's house in order to pay off a ruthless loan shark. Suffice to say the poor guy would have had better luck with the loan shark, because THIS house has been overtaken by a savage psycho who enjoys long games of terrorize, torture, and kill. So not only does our main character start out as a sympathetic burglar who becomes trapped in a madman's horror show ... but he also has to consider the folks he was originally planning to rob. In other words, Arkin tries to save the day. And he's not doing a real great job of it, frankly.

So already Dunstan has laid down a clever horror hook, one that's certainly not revolutionary but does a solid job of combining two popular sub-genres of the horror field, plus he's also experienced enough to include a great musical score by Jerome Dillon, a smooth and creepy visual approach, and an affection for gore that approaches the line of R-rated nastiness, but doesn't overdo it either. He's helped mightily by newcomer Josh Stewart (he looks and 'acts' a lot like a young Sean Penn), who throws the whole freaky flick on his back and offers us a surprisingly empathetic lead character. We "buy" the guy's plight with no problem, and it's a testament to the actor that we (almost instantly) start to feel for the guy -- even though he's a crook.

But if you ask me, the real heroes of The Collector are editors Alex Luna and James Mastracco. It's been a long time since I've seen an 88 minute horror film that blew by like it was 38, but once it sets up the scenario, this flick hits the ground running and never looks back.

Horror freaks will be interested to learn that an early draft for The Collector (then called Midnight Man) was originally envisioned as a Saw prequel, but when that project didn't happen Dunstan (and longtime co-writer Patrick Melton) re-wrote the screenplay as an original piece. The horror freaks will be doubly interested to learn that the finished film was purchased outright from Dimension, simply because another distributor (Liddell / Freestyle) liked the movie a whole lot more than the Weinsteins did. The new distributors' confidence in the film is painfully evident, they're releasing a "no stars, no teenagers, hard R" horror film in the middle of the summer movie season. All by itself that makes a horror supporter like me very happy indeed. The fact that The Collector is a rather fine horror film is just the icing on the cake.

For the most part, the mainstream critics are doing their typical anti-horror rants, calling those of us who enjoy these films scum. Variety seems to be the only mainstream news outlet that is actually giving the film thumbs up. At least they're not all bad. The opening paragraph to their review gave me a huge smile: "With both feet planted firmly on the sticky accelerator of the torture-porn vehicle, "The Collector" is a surprisingly stylish and confident high-concept thriller in which a burglar breaks into a family home already invaded by a super-sadistic serial killer; bloodletting and mood lighting ensue. Hyper-violent slicer-dicer takes its time getting to the dismemberments, disembowelments and death by bear trap, but the execution, so to speak, is first-rate. Utter disregard for aud's gastrointestinal well-being should make for healthy turnout and sequel after sequel after sequel."

Grand Master

Hurmoth

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So did anyone else get a chance to see this? I went to see it a second time, going with a close female friend instead, and she ended up rushing herself to the nearest restroom to vomit :laugh: We both had a good laugh, and by both of us I mean me and by laugh I mean I laughed my ass off at her. :rofl:

This film pretty much makes all of the SAW and Hostel films look like a kiddie ride at Disney Land.

Grand Master

Konstanov

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So did anyone else get a chance to see this? I went to see it a second time, going with a close female friend instead, and she ended up rushing herself to the nearest restroom to vomit :laugh: We both had a good laugh, and by both of us I mean me and by laugh I mean I laughed my ass off at her. :rofl:

This film pretty much makes all of the SAW and Hostel films look like a kiddie ride at Disney Land.

I took my sister and she asked me repeatedly, "How do people find any enjoyment watching movies like that?" My only response was, "Because they're awesome?"

Veteran

SolidSapphire

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I saw it, I wasn't planning to but i did and i was totally confused because i didn't exactly get there on time. But i got what was going on after awhile. I'm going to say i didn't love the ending but it seems like there will be a sequel. This movie did have some horrible deaths but i can't really compare it to saw, It's really different to me. 2 out of 5.

Grand Master

Hurmoth

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I took my sister and she asked me repeatedly, "How do people find any enjoyment watching movies like that?" My only response was, "Because they're awesome?"

I get asked that question all the time. My response to them is, "How you people find enjoyment out of comedies?"

I don't know if this is true, but there's two theories about those who enjoy horror films: The first is that the person is not actually afraid, but excited by the movie. The second explanation is that they are willing to endure the terror in order to enjoy a euphoric sense of relief at the end.

I most definitely fall into the first theory.

C'mon! Release it in Canada already. :(

Yeah, really sucks that they're not releasing it in Canada. Maybe a trip to Buffalo is in order :p

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