The Collector has enough blood and gore to fill up two horror movies, but it’s the film’s more suspenseful moments, skillfully executed by first-time director Marcus Dunston, that really impressed me.
Arkin (Josh Stewart), a former convict, does odd jobs for his employer Michael Chase (Michael Reilly Burke), a well-to-do executive whose family recently moved into a new house. In dire need of cash to pay off a loan shark, Arkin breaks into the Chase homestead while the family is away and heads straight for their wall safe.
But as the would-be thief will soon discover, someone else had the same idea, only his fellow intruder, a masked psychopath known only as “The Collector” (Juan Fernandez), is after much more than money.
Though tense and frightening, The Collector does, at times, push the believability envelope to its breaking point (you may find yourself asking questions, like how did the Collector rig so many elaborate traps in only a few hours?). But in the end, it was such a thrill ride that I had no trouble suspending disbelief while watching it.
In fact, I was totally caught up in the cat-and-mouse game that develops between Arkin (who does his damnedest to stay hidden) and The Collector (the way director Dunston shoots these scenes, occasionally letting his camera drift above the action to show how close the two characters are to one another, enhanced the suspense). And as the movie’s villain, The Collector is one eerie dude (we see his glowing eyes through the mask, and it’s enough to send a chill up our spine).
As for the film’s gore, it’s pretty gnarly; The Collector rigs the house with everything from hooks to bear traps, to a pissed-off guard dog, all of which inflict their fair share of pain (in addition, there’s a scene involving a cat and lots of glue that had me on the edge of my seat).
The Collector proved to be one hell of a low-budget horror movie, and was so good that it actually spawned a sequel (2012’s The Collection). Don’t miss it!
Rating: 8 out of 10
