The Collector

All right, it’s a given that everyone’s long since given up on the whole torture-porn sub-genre of horror movies, that was so quickly kick-started by Saw. Nothing knew there. But while The Collector definitely falls into that category, it still manages to stand on it’s own as a good horror story. A flawed one, sure, but still a good one.

The Collector starts off with a down-on-his-luck handyman named Arkin (Josh Stewart), who’s doing construction work on the home of a jewel broker named Michael. While Arkin’s there he bonds with Michael’s youngest daughter, and the audience is also given scenes that establish the characters of Michael’s wife and older daughter. There maybe isn’t a huge amount of characterization taking place, but it’s just about right for the audience to gain sympathy for everyone involved.

After Arkin leaves the house, he goes to meet with his own wife who, as it turns out, owes money to a loan shark. And she needs more cash to get out of town with her and Arkin’s own daughter. With the stakes thus raised, Arkin first meets with a dealer in stolen goods, and then gets back to Michael’s house. There’s a jewel in Michael’s locked safe that’s valuable enough to solve all of Arkin’s problems.

But the thing is, while Arkin was away from the house, a maniac called The Collector showed up. And he spent the last couple of hours capturing Michael’s family and setting up a series of deadly traps. After Arkin discovers what’s going on, he plays a twisted game of hide-and-seek with the Collector, all the while avoiding the traps and trying to save the family.



So yes, it’s a story that lends itself to some genuinely tense scenes, and has enough blood-and-guts for the gore fans. But before the audience can buy any of this, first they have to accept the idea that The Collector had enough time to torture Michael and his wife, AND set up lethal traps while Arkin was gone. And there’s also the question of why the Collector set up the traps to begin with. It’s probably so that he’d have the pleasure of watching his victims try to run, and then get injured or killed . . . though we never know for sure.

But maybe it’s asking for too much to expect a movie like The Collector to be flawless. It’s honestly a more-tense and involving fright flick than many films that get released. And it’s one more welcome alternative to watered-down, PG-13 horror.


- Nate