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Directed by Marcus Dunstan, The Collector, is death trap fans delight.
Arkin, played by Josh Stewart (The Dark Knight Rises) is a handyman hired to work on a wealthy family’s country home. Unbeknownst to them, he’s also an ex-con with a history of breaking and entering. His hand his forced to take drastic measures to get a lot of cash, and fast, when his estranged wife Lisa (Daniella Alonso- The Hills have eyes 2, Wrong Turn 2: Dead End) ends up owing big money to loan sharks who, as always, want the money now and not later. To save his daughter from harm he comes up with a plan.
He decides to break into the upper-class family home as they head away on a short vacation to steal a precious gem stone hidden within the safe. Unfortunately, when he arrives, he soon discovers that he is trapped inside the house with an unknown killer who has painstakingly rigged every inch of the house with elaborate death traps.
What The Collector collects is interesting and the collector killer himself is extremely freaky and intimidating. His mask and most distinguishable feature being his creepy, glowing eyes.
The kills are imaginative and memorable, with ingenious and clever traps and a great claustrophobic atmosphere.
Anchoring all the madness is a solid performance from lead actor Josh Stewart using his panicked, mad dog eyes to display all the details and motivations of his mostly mute character.
One negative to the film is the ending, which we have seen countless times before and it’s not any more surprising or different, but still, the collector is engaging and fast paced. It is what a slasher film should be; tense and entertaining.
The Collector is a great film which delivers something we’ve all seen before but in a slightly different way. It’s an intense and thrilling ride with some excellent suspenseful directing, an intriguing killer and I would definitely recommend it to any dedicated horror fan.
WICKED RATING: 6.5/10 [usr 6.5]
Title: The Collector
Director(s): Marcus Dunstan
Writer(s): Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan
Stars: Josh Stewart, Andrea Roth, Juan Fernández
Year: 2009
Studio/ Production Co: LD Entertainment, Fortress Features, Imaginarium Entertainment Group
Budget: $6,000,000 (estimated)
Language: English
Length: 90mins
Sub-Genre: Crime, Thriller
