Customer Reviews

The Collector [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

"The Collector" was written and directed by Marcus Dunstan with the writing help of Patrick Melton. The two have worked together on the Saw movies installments 4, 5, 6, and the upcoming 7 so that fact that this movie is "Saw" meets "Home Alone" is a very accurate statement. The premise is that a down-on-his-luck father needs some money by midnight and decides to rob an employer while the family is on vacation. Unfortunately, someone else got there first and has set up a series of intricate, deadly booby traps top to bottom in this mansion.

Josh Stewart stars as Arkin, a guy trying to get by on a honest day's pay for an honest day's work yadda yadda yadda, but when put in a crunch proves skilled at robberies in order to save his family from loan sharks. Little does he know that the second he enters this house, the probability of his ever seeing them again plummets dramatically. There is a dagger chandelier, an acid floor, fish hook curtains, boarded up windows rigged with razor blades, and trip wires everywhere. This is one intense journey into torture porn that only the strong can stomach. If you can't get enough "Saw" and wish Kevin had been just a little more naughty than paint cans in "Home Alone", this is your chance to see something spectacular. Cat-lovers, beware.

This house is a maze of stairways, doorways, hallways, and it can get easy to get lost so the director does a great job of showing the audience where our "hero"...er..."hero-ish guy" is by raising the camera over the door frames through the ceiling so you can see where the good guy is and where the bad guy is easily. There is also different lighting throughout the house. Of course, most rooms are very dark but some have bluish tints and the basement has a creepy slimer-glow.

This is one of the best scary movies I've seen in the last couple of years. There is no filler, very little exposition at the beginning, it just jumps right into the thrilling cat-and-mouse game where you keep waiting for the killer to discover someone else is in the house. One more scary note: the killer likes to put people in boxes.

This film also features a quick cameo from Claire's lesbian college friend in "Heroes" and yes, she gets topless so...enjoy that, I guess.

End verdict: go rent this for thrills and chills. Not a movie to eat during. Bring a pillow to shove in front of your face when it gets too freaky.

I don't know what some of these people are talking about, but this movie is AWESOME. I have to admit, I didn't think it was going to be this much Gore in the movie. I haven't been this creeped out in a Horror movie like this in a long time. I just don't understand why there were so many traps in the house. If anyone is familiar with the Video Game "Deception" you will think this would have made a perfect movie. I really don't like much gore like how some of the Saw movies started off, but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The only thing I want to know is if this guy is Human?? I wanted to see his face so bad. If there is a sequel, I'm sure they will go into some of the backstory of who the guy is, but if your ready for a good horror movie, This one is worth a watch.

The Collector is like Jigsaw invited Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger over for a cup of tea and some blood-letting. A sub-contractor/thief has staked out his latest rich victim to burgle and this time he needs the money to help his ex-wife escape losing her knee caps to a loan shark. That is the entire story.

The rest of the movie deals with the burglar finding the house is now a house of horror, booby-trapped with trip-wires, bear traps, razors and the master bedroom has the floor entirely covered in glue so the collector can trap the owners of the home like flies on a fly strip. The collector is a silent masked predator and we learn if he likes you, he collects you but if he doesn't want you he kills you. This info is provided by one of the collectibles confined in a large red box.

The problem with the film is, there is no explanation of how the collector was able to booby-trap the house in a short window of time and the movie is mostly a set-up for some ingenious kills including a disembowelment, but the movie comes through with the torture and gore and like Jigsaw, Jason and Freddy before him, the collector will be coming back for more blood and guts.

I remember horror movies that made you scared to walk into the kitchen at night as an adolescent, fearful that you'd meet some scarred up psycho who'd escaped from the state mental asylum with a rusty hook knife. Or as the old timers called them, a gutting knife.

Such was my fear-filled imagination growing up at a time that horror movies were targeted at drug induced keg partying teenagers. Watching the movie "The Collector" brought back some of those fearful memories from that horrific era of movie watching. A time where the anticipation of what was going to happen tightened the fear in you like a pulled bow string.

This movie doesn't use the CGI tricks or creative applied make-up tactics to get a yell out of you. Instead, its a suspense-thriller that puts you in the shoes of those who are stalked. Oh, there's blood alright, but its the method of the madness causing the blood to splatter that makes you cringe.

You'll catch yourself watching and thinking at first that its not so bad a situation. But then as the little observations you've made start adding up and you begin to feel as if there's no escape, as if the closet you're locked inside is closing in on you, your calm-while-in-the-storm style begins to wear thin and the panic clock ticks just a bit faster. You want out.

And just as you think you've finally....................

Oh no no no, you'll have to watch the movie to earn that thrill.

This movie isn't anything new in horror, its just some good old fashioned suspense horror at its finest. Check it out if you like horror movies made easy or miss the good old days of horror. You won't be disappointed. Now Buckle Up and hide safely!

3.5 Stars

THE COLLECTOR takes SAW to new levels of torture horror. It's a well made albeit disturbing film. Filled with grotesque traps and pervasive violence, it's not easy to watch. Josh Stewart is intensely effective in his role of the down on his luck jewel thief with good support from Andrea Roth and Michael Reilly Burke. My main problem is the plot holes:
HOW DID THE COLLECTOR HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO SET ALL THE TRAPS?
WHY DIDN'T THE GUARD DOG ATTACK THE COLLECTOR?
WHY DIDN'T THE FAMILY GO ON THEIR VACATION?
WAS THE COLLECTOR REALLY AN EXTERMINATOR? HE PEELED THE LOGO OFF HIS VAN AT THE END.
HOW DID HE CHOOSE HIS VICTIMS--AND WHY?
Not for the squeamish, but certainly horrifying.

If you like to be scared and you dont mind seeing people tortured then run and get this movie. Dont try to reason with this movie or try to wonder why or how this madman is doing the things hes doing just sit back and watch till your heart skips a beat. I will not give away the plot, A hired worker who is in some big money trouble decides to rob the home of the people who hired him only to discover someone else has has broken in before him....A game of cat and mouse is played out to perfection, the torture scenes are somewhat equal to SAW, the house is one big booby trap and you better watch every move you make....the best part is that this movie ends in a way that a part 2 will shortly follow....This movie will make your skin crawl.

Can't understand all the negative reviews that seem to harp on the movie being "unrealistic". Relentless unstoppable killer movies are never realistic. That's because the killer isn't a real human being, he is a cinematic metaphor - usually for AIDS or STDs - whose sole function in the movie is to kill off the kids who put out. This movie is a little different, though watch for the promiscuous kids still having to die. This killer represents something else - maybe our own collective dark hearts. After all on some level, aren't we getting "something" from this entertainment, something that perhaps, deep down where the bowels meet the id, we actually desire?

Anyways, that being said this movie is so full of plot holes there is no need to play the realism card.

Why, when the nominal "hero" finds someone in the house does he always say "Be quiet" and then he NEVER says, "The house is full of hideous traps"? Because, when he fails to say that, people immediately run off straight into the adjoining room and then into some huge steel mantrap or barbledy wire or bladed implements and die very bloodily.

Realism in a movie such as this isn't necessary, but logical thought from characters should be.

And yes, you can make an argument for a "torture porn" label for this, albeit a weak one. But s*x and horrendously painful death are clearly conflated in this flick - I don't care if it's done only once - once is enough for a TP classification in this reviewer's book.

In an isolated mansion somewhere, a new family moves into a mansion known as the Chases (Michael Reilly Burke, Andrea Roth and Karley Scott Collins) as they believe it is just the right place. However, Arkin (Josh Stewart) was fixing their windows and doors as he is a con-artist that needs more money even for his wife as he decides to play burglar at their house when they aren't home, unfortunately there is another criminal called The Collector (Juan Fernadez) has imprisoned the family with a few other people as he has booby-trapped the house for uninvited guests but can he find a surviving family member and get out alive?

Intense, creepy and gory slasher movie from the writers of Saw IV and V is quite an original and startling shocker. It's been called a Torture movie but there is only a couple but not alot as this is actually a slasher movie in the Home Alone mode where are are booby-traps such as fox-traps on the floors in a hall, acid sticky glue, windows with razors etc and of course the usual stabbing. This one is also quite claustrophobic and brings back the feel of those exploitation slasher era rather than being so-called "Torture Porn".

This Blu-Ray offers brilliant stunning picture with surround sound that is quite chilling even of the screams of victims with extras like trailer, featurette, music video and deleted scenes.

I loved this movie. A lot of detail is paid to the audio. It is often dizzying, jolting and confusing, therefore adding to emotionally disruptive nature of this horror film. Sure the killer was just a guy in a mask, but he has a unique attribute or two that make him genuinely creepy. Most of the traps are fun and well executed. I wish the story focused a little more on the traps and a little less on the torture though.

This movie was shot on Super 16mm so it is very grainy. I would avoid spending the extra $$ on the Blu-Ray. I learned my lesson with Rob Zombie's Halloween 2. As with any 16mm film, such as these two or Ti West's House of the Devil, the appearance of film grain will peak during dark sequence, and in Hi-Def, I find it distracting and hard to see what's happening sometimes.

The Collector was bloody, brutal and original. There were at least three instances where I caught myself saying, "I've never seen that before!" Written and rejected as a prequel to Saw, I doubt we will get to see The Collector again, but who knows. Once you watch it you'll see that there was plenty of room left to take the story to franchise.

Yes I know - I butchered Mary Botham Howitt's poem title, but it aptly describes this movie. A movie worth watching, even if you are not a 'Saw' fan. The Collector has the makings of a more than usual horror movie with all the classic plot twists. The director, Marcus Dunstan and screen-writer Patrick Melton, do well by building our reluctant hero's character that we quickly come to know him well enough and empathize with him. Arkin, (played excellently by Josh Stewart) a recently released convict, a local handy-man working for the rich Chase family, shows some innocent kindness to the Chase's youngest daughter. When Hanna invites Arkin to an imaginary tea party, Arkin asks the 10 year old Hannah, "what would you want if you could have anything in the world?" Hannah's reply is, "a Basket Bear".

The party is brief, cut short by the Hannah's father, Michael Chase - a jewelry broker, a fact that becomes salient to our plot a bit later. We meet, Michael's wife, Victoria, played by Andrea Roth, from Rescue Me - a vain woman who fears aging, and we also meet the family's angry, rebellious, teenager, Jill.

Arkin's dilemma comes in the form of his daughter, Cindy and his shark in-debted ex-wife, Lisa. Lisa needs money by midnight, and Arkin, who had just presented his daughter the brand new 'Basket Bear', promises to get her the money by midnight. Another quick scene involving Arkin's crime associate, Roy, who is played by the relatively more experienced actor, Robert Wisdom, shows Arkin's motivation for returning to the Chase's mansion. Arkin wants to rob the Chase's while they are on vacation, steal a jewel, and split 50/50 with Roy the fence. And Arkin wants to do it by midnight, tonight. Roy, warning Arkin, "Terrible thing happen when breaking their routine".

With all the introductions out of the way, the story moves quickly from here on out. The musical score works well by helping to bring the tension to the surface, building anxiety in the audience. Arkin sneaks back to the Chase's home and prepares to crack the safe hidden in the Chase's master bedroom behind a mirror. Arkin starts this movie, a flawed character, a desperate man, turning to crime to support his family. Do not worry; Arkin's position is about to get worse.

Arkin, hearing noises in the supposedly empty house, just as he is about to crack the safe, realizes that he is not alone. In a manner of minutes, Arkin also quickly realizes that the house is booby-trapped, rigged like a spider's web, ready to spring its many death traps. Finding the adult members of the family still in the house, Arkin ventures to the basement, tortured by, the Collector, a sexual sadist hiding behind a wrestler's mask, funky green eyes burning with hatred from within. The DVD case for 'The Collector' describes this movie as a, "cat and mouse chase". And for the best portion of the movie, Arkin, playing the mouse, after trying to save what's left of the tortured family, found his opportunity to escape this deadly web. He now has the jewel; all he has to do is leave. ... But can he? The remainder of the movie is an epic battle of good and evil; Arkin battling the Collector for the soul of Hannah, the family's lone survivor.

Take my humble advice and watch the opening scenes carefully for the Collector's method to his madness. Pay particular attention to the opening titles for clues on how to plan a deadly web of bear traps, a chandelier of knives, punji sticks on your stairwell, just to name a few. Watch carefully, at the beginning for the contents of the red chest left in the middle of the house. This is a good, suspenseful, high energy, horror flick, good for a dark stormy night, and remember, "If the Collector likes you, he keeps you; if he doesn't, he kills you."