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The Collector
The
debut directorial effort from Marcus Dunstan, The Collector is the story
of thief called Arkin who bites off way more than he can safely chew
when he breaks into a house that he has installed a security system on,
only to find that someone else is in there with him. Someone who has
quite the agenda to carry out and seems more than happy to have Arkin
play his little games.
For those of you who don't know, Dunstan is the writer on a number of
the highly successful Saw films which are still personal favourites of
mine for the cleverness of the scripts and the twists and turns the
films make through the gore they expose us to.
The plot is a neat one, and screams out to me at least that there is a
franchise here just waiting to happen. The scene is set within at least
the first five minutes of the movie when a trunk arrives within a house
with a note set atop it for The Collector. The couple who own the home
find it in their bedroom and when the man opens up the trunk, we quickly
realise that not all is well and the title gets well under way.
The similarities between this movie and any other number of the Saw
flicks is immediately noticeable. A house filled with traps, an
anonymous tormentor, gore and puzzles along with a man trying to do the
right thing, and you have a recipe for a horror/thriller movie just like
this one. In fact you have this movie :) That is more than alright
though, because whilst you might feel like you have seen this movie
before, there are plenty of surprises that will keep you watching
riveted for the whole thing.
The film is shot really, really well with amazingly good scenes and
angles used for maximum effect. There is a little bit of noise in
shadowy scenes but overall the quality is great. Colour is used well to
accentuate the movie, and at times almost seems to be a character in
and of itself with the way that it's utilised.
Sound is another friend of this movie and there are plenty of moments
that some creepy noise sure as heck made me jump. I've been a fan of the
good use of audio for a very long time and The Collector presents us
with such a collage of audio terror that it was utterly amazing. Some of
the first encounters as such with The Collector are filled with creepy
noise that made me incredibly apprehensive! It was more the sound that
was happening off camera than on that scared me. Real credit is due to
the audio people on this film.
Who is The Collector? Other than having a penchant for leaving nasty
traps around a large house, our chief protagonist is a mute, lithe
character who seems to collect people and torment them as much as
possible and then leave them as traps for other victims. He is a cruel
character filled with an animal savagery that doesn't even spare animals
when we witness the sadistic end of the family cat.
The Collector is a engrossing enough film to watch for fans of gore
horror. The film in and of itself is not particularly strong with not
enough time to really care too much about most of the characters,
whether they were good or bad. The gore is well done and quite
convincing and the enthusiasm of The Collector for his job is to be
commended. Overall though other than feeling squeamish some of the time,
I just didn't care. The ending is a tad contrived and quite
unconvincing.
The film is perfect for a spooky night in front of the couch that you
don't have to think too much about. There are no real clever twists or
turns, it's just a straight up gore fest that is not for the feint of
heart or stomach.
There are a decent range of extras here including deleted scenes
commentaries and trailers. Great for anyone who wants to know more about
this film and the process of making it. Some of the thoughts of the film
makers seem a bit too deep for the kind of movie this is but still good
to know what went on in their heads.
Give it a shot on a rainy night when you have nothing better to do. A
great rent but a purchase only for fans of gore.
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