Long before Hannibal Lecter's first appearance on celluloid, William Wyler's "The Collector" presented us with the premise of the gentleman killer, although you do not think of him as a killer.
The Collector refers to a lonely butterfly collector played by Terrence Stamp, who lives by himself in rural England. He kidnaps a pretty college student played by Samantha Eggar. He has no plans to hurt her but feels that the more time she spends with him, the more chances she will fall in love with him
That backstory is the major difference between "The Collector" and your other serial killer movies. Today's serial killer movies starts with the mad killer. The Collector starts out fairly innocently and slowly loses that sense of kindness. The movie's end is almost the opening of today's murderer movies.
The two person cast is outstanding. Terence Stamp is wonderfully creepy- and smart! However he does give off a sense of pathos. You really hope that he could hook up with Samantha Eggar. Eggar's performance is brilliant. She is sexy, yet gives off a vulnerability and later on desperation.
Wyler's direction is wonderful when you consider he essentially has two actors in one set (for a comparison rent Hitchcock's "Rope").Even with these limitations, he still creates suspense and compels you to watch even though there's not a lot of 'stuff' going on.
"The Collector" is an underrated gem, perfect to rent when "Hannibal" or "Along came a Spider" is out at the video store
The Collector refers to a lonely butterfly collector played by Terrence Stamp, who lives by himself in rural England. He kidnaps a pretty college student played by Samantha Eggar. He has no plans to hurt her but feels that the more time she spends with him, the more chances she will fall in love with him
That backstory is the major difference between "The Collector" and your other serial killer movies. Today's serial killer movies starts with the mad killer. The Collector starts out fairly innocently and slowly loses that sense of kindness. The movie's end is almost the opening of today's murderer movies.
The two person cast is outstanding. Terence Stamp is wonderfully creepy- and smart! However he does give off a sense of pathos. You really hope that he could hook up with Samantha Eggar. Eggar's performance is brilliant. She is sexy, yet gives off a vulnerability and later on desperation.
Wyler's direction is wonderful when you consider he essentially has two actors in one set (for a comparison rent Hitchcock's "Rope").Even with these limitations, he still creates suspense and compels you to watch even though there's not a lot of 'stuff' going on.
"The Collector" is an underrated gem, perfect to rent when "Hannibal" or "Along came a Spider" is out at the video store