The guys that wrote 3 "Feast" movies and 3 "Saw" movies now bring you "The Collector". This should tell you exactly what you're getting into with this film. Granted, it's a crackerjack premise: an ex-con tries to steal a jewel from his employer's house, only to find that a serial killer has already broken into the place and laid a variety of horrifying traps. The problem is, the movie makes absolutely zero sense.
** POSSIBLE SPOILERS BEGIN **
You see, answer me this question: once the killer has broken into the house and tied up the family (obviously intent on killing them), why set all the traps? And boy, are these some traps - a room filled with acid, another room filled with bear traps (?), and other various "Saw" inspired maniacal mechanisms. Trouble is, even if you buy that there is a REASON for the traps, you'll also quickly start asking yourself a dozen other questions, like wouldn't it take this guy DAYS if not WEEKS to set these traps, instead of the 7 or 8 hours he clearly had? These and other frustrations will begin to occupy more of the mind than the plot - not a good sign.
** POSSIBLE SPOILERS END **
A pretty well-made film, the first by one-half of the writing team Marcus Dunstan (a nice, grainy film stock gives the pic some 80s-style horror cred), it nonetheless quickly becomes lazy and repetitive - get chased by killer, walk into new trap, find a way out, repeat. There is some nice tension, and some squirm-inducing torture, but the film essentially adds nothing new to the current crop of "Saws" and "Hostels" and the like that define the sub-genre of "torture porn". Again, all this description may totally get your heart a racing, because you dig some or all of these kinds of films. Look, you're talking to a guy who really dug both "Saw" and "Hostel". Trust me - you'll be disappointed. Go see a much better recent horror film called "The Orphan".
** POSSIBLE SPOILERS BEGIN **
You see, answer me this question: once the killer has broken into the house and tied up the family (obviously intent on killing them), why set all the traps? And boy, are these some traps - a room filled with acid, another room filled with bear traps (?), and other various "Saw" inspired maniacal mechanisms. Trouble is, even if you buy that there is a REASON for the traps, you'll also quickly start asking yourself a dozen other questions, like wouldn't it take this guy DAYS if not WEEKS to set these traps, instead of the 7 or 8 hours he clearly had? These and other frustrations will begin to occupy more of the mind than the plot - not a good sign.
** POSSIBLE SPOILERS END **
A pretty well-made film, the first by one-half of the writing team Marcus Dunstan (a nice, grainy film stock gives the pic some 80s-style horror cred), it nonetheless quickly becomes lazy and repetitive - get chased by killer, walk into new trap, find a way out, repeat. There is some nice tension, and some squirm-inducing torture, but the film essentially adds nothing new to the current crop of "Saws" and "Hostels" and the like that define the sub-genre of "torture porn". Again, all this description may totally get your heart a racing, because you dig some or all of these kinds of films. Look, you're talking to a guy who really dug both "Saw" and "Hostel". Trust me - you'll be disappointed. Go see a much better recent horror film called "The Orphan".