[The Collector]
Plot:Centers on an ex-con who is in desperate need of money to pay off his ex-wife to stop her from leaving town with their daughter. When he breaks into the country home of his wealthy employer in an effort to steal a valuable jewel, he realizes that his family has been abducted by a masked killer who has rigged the house with a series of deadly traps.

Cast:Juan Fernandez, Josh Stewart, Karley Scott Collins, Michael Reilly Burke, Jabari Thomas, Colvin Roberson, Michael Showers.

My Thoughts:Decent 90 minute'er.

Review:"The Collector" wasn't really billed as anything specific. Marcus Dunstan's horror pic was simply expected to drop this year. There wasn't a huge amount of buzz surrounding it, but it did have those usual release troubles. The film was supposed to hit DVD last year, but never did. Then it was decided that they'd give it a theatrical run come July 31st. Making it one of the few horror movies to be pulled from the STRAIGHT-TO-DVD pile, and be whisked away into cinemas. Usually, it's the other way around. So was this film deserving of a theatrical run? A little yes, and a little no, is my diagnosis.

The film follows a hardluck thief, who needs a quick lump sum of cash to give his wife so she can pay off her debt to some bad people. So he agrees to steal a jewel for a shady guy, in exchange for a cut of it's worth. He shows up at a mansion to snag the item, but the problem is, the family at the mansion are being held captive by a masked madman, who has rigged the house with a variety of traps. Now the thief has to turn hero in order to save the family from the clutches of this guy.

That's if he himself can avoid becoming the masked-man's next victim. A movie like this would've played well years ago, but with "Saw" being on it's sixth installment, it really seems like "Saw"-lite. Like Jigsaw, who booby-traps his hideouts and residences, this man has done the same to the large mansion. Which we learn when the thief shows up, and also when some of the family members he releases, try to escape the house. Unlike Jigsaw however, he wears a mask, and seems to not be out to teach these people a lesson, but rather is just doing this for kicks.

Then again, I could be wrong, but we're not given any backstory on the wealthy family, or the killer. So we're left to assume he likes to just torture people. Although in one scene, the thief is informed by one of the family members that the killer collects people he wants to keep, and kills those he doesn't. I really didn't see this as a necessary revelation other than to add some backstory to the killers motives. Don't all psycho killers "collect" people?

Hence their dark, dank, hideouts where they torture, mutilate, or butcher their victims? Not sure why "collecting" people is such a big deal with this guy, but whatever. The film works though as a scary movie because it takes place in this dark, spooky, creaky mansion. Set to the backdrop of a thunderstorm. So what is happening on the outside, certainly ratchets up the intensity of the events taking place inside. But the movie relies more on suspense, chills, and thrills than the blood, gore, and brutality shown in the "Saw" movies.

Most of the movie teases an eventual confrontation between the thief and the masked-killer. A confrontation which is not displayed too early, mostly because the killer is a master of surprise, and the thief, being a thief, is also a master of evading and escaping. So these two don't butt heads until very late in the movie. Despite their surroundings, a dark mansion where there's very little visibility, and many rooms.

The size of the mansion adds to their ability to constantly miss each other, but it's dark setting at the same time, should've increased the chances of them running into one another. Character development isn't very strong in this movie, but it doesn't really need to be, considering it's not a movie where the victims are the stars, but instead a movie where the anti-hero battles the evil villain. But the lack of development of the killer, hurts the movie.

Like I said before, the guy is too much like Jigsaw, and his motives aren't really ever explained. The traps are also really juvenile, think Nancy from "Nightmare On Elm Street", when she rigs her living room as a trap for Freddy. These traps are more on the basic, pedestrian level. Certainly not the kind of ingenuity we're used to seeing from a Jigsaw type. The truth is there really isn't much to this movie, and that's it's biggest problem.

It spends way too much time doing the "what if" thing, and never really goes balls-to-the-wall like, ever. The deaths aren't spectacular, the blood and gore levels are average at best, and the characters beyond the thief, who you have to root for considering his predicament, and his decision to rescue the family rather than rob them, aren't worth paying attention to nor cheering for really. Of course writer/director Dunstan also throws in the obligatory little kid who is left last to escape the house along with the thief, giving the audience a slight fright at the fact that she might not "make it".

But in the end, we all know she will because, no horror movie has ever broken the "kid" rule. That spat of predictability hurts the films climax. The movies ending is a tad bit weird but yet dramatic in some ways. But it all boils down to being too predictable and signaling a sequel is not a good idea for this particular film at all. "The Collector" had a chance to be a decent standalone slasher flick, but it's comparisons to "Saw", and it's thin script hurt it immensely.

Positives:The setting is well done with the dark, creaky mansion, and the thunderstorm outside.

Negatives:Hardly any character development, mostly on the side of the killer and the family being held hostage, not as much blood and gore as there should've been. The movie also lags in some parts, as if it is not sure of what to do next.

Overall:One and a half out of four stars.





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