Horror movie time now, I've not watched a decent horror flick in a good while due to the majority of most moder horror movies being, well, crap, but I decided to take a chance on this one. It's called The Collector and it's from the writers of a few of the Saw films and to be honest I kind of enjoyed it. Check out my review after the jump...
As a horror fan I'd
started distancing myself from the genre recently because of the
constant lack of originality that we were being presented with,
that's not to say that all horror films were bad but the constant
stream of Torture porn horror was starting to wear thin. Seven SAW
flicks, remakes of Elm Street and Friday 13th, Texas
Chainsaw and other lesser known horror flicks were just the nail in
the coffin for me with 'modern horror', so as I had nothing to watch,
which Is strange considering my 4000+ DVD collection, I rented a film
called The Collector. A horror film that was cited as the new 'Saw'
and from the producers of that franchise so I didn't go into The
Collector with any expectations. 80 minutes later, the film was over
and I was impressed. It's not the greatest horror film ever made, not
by a long shot but it was refreshing to see a film that utilized
elements from many sub genre's of horror, The Home Invasion film,
Slasher films and the obvious torture porn films, but it used these
elements to it's advantage, making the film and exciting and at times
pretty tense horror flick. Had this been made in the 80s I could have
seen it becoming a cult classic but I think because of the amount of
horror we have these days I think it might just get lost in all the
remakes and reboots. This is sad because The Collector is one of the
better horror films to come out in the last few years.
Let's take a look at
the plot.
The film starts with
our protagonist Arkin, a thief recently released from prison, now
working as a handy man for a family. It's your typical American
horror family, Dad's a rich-is diamond broker, Mum is hot, Daughter
with the big tits hates her parents for making her go on a family
vacation and the youngest daughter seems to have no friends, you
know, typical American family. Arkin himself is having financial
problems, his wife owes money to a debt collector and he rarely gets
to see his daughter. His wife needs a certain amount of money by
midnight or she'll be killed (?), well something like that, so Arkin
decides to rob the house of the diamond broker as they 'should' be
away for their vacation. Well Arkin breaks into the house at night to
rob some diamonds and discovers that he's not alone, there is someone
else lurking around the house, and then come the screams. The family
never went on vacation, they're being held hostage in the basement by
a madman in a mask, and to make matters worse, the madman has rigged
the house with traps. Arkin decides to try and rescue the family but
it's going to be hard as the loon in the mask is intent on making
sure that never happens. It's a fight for survival in a house where
every step could mean your death.
With The Collector,
Marcus Dunston and writing partner Patrick Melton have created a
genuinely creepy killer in the guys of the Collector. Unlike Adam
Green's Hatchet series, this one is played straight and this adds a
lot of tension to the film due to the single location setting. The
actual killer is well imagined too, his creepy contorted mask and
those really weird contact lenses add a lot to the character, his all
black clothing, lace up military boots and black gloves bring a
reminder of some of the Italian Giallo's from the 70s and his knife
belt with keys and other such thing attached bring a homage to the
slashers of the 80s such as My Bloody Valentine, Prom Night and even
Scream. The Collector is also a cleaver killer, he's not just
satisfied shoving a knife into someone but takes pleasure in seeing
his meticulously planned traps being put to good use. Fair do's to
Dunston and Melton for coming up with a well thought out maze of
death for the home setting in this film.
The cast are pretty
good too, the main focus being on the Arkin character, played by Josh
Stewart, who while a flawed character with his own personal problems,
reluctantly becomes the hero of the film, or more like the Anti-hero
of this film. His choice could have been an easy one, get the
diamonds and leave the family, but he decides to help try and rescue
them, a conflicted character for the most part, Arkin does become the
hero and does at least manage to escape with at least on of the
family members.
The rest of cast is
made up of minor TV actors such as Michael Riley Burke (Vegas),
Danielle Alonso (Revolution), Madeline Zima (Californication) and
Andrea Roth (Rescue Me/Lost).
Overall, The Collector,
while being flawed is still a damn sight better than most modern
horror films. It has a good killer, a good central hero and a great
tense atmosphere. Not many films of the past 10-15 years have managed
to do this and for this congratulate Dunston and Melton on their
killer creation. Will The Collector become as iconic as Freddy,
Jason, Michael Myers, Leather face and even Jigsaw? Maybe, maybe not
it's only early but for now The Collector is a refreshing throw back
to 80s slashers mixed with 21st century Torture porn. I
would recommend this flick if you are sick of all the sequels and
remakes of the current crop of horror flicks.
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