|
 The
Collector (Theatrical - 2009)
Liddell Entertainment / 2009
Directed by Marcus Dunstan
Written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton
Cast: Josh Stewart, Madeline Zima, Andrea Roth, Daniella
Alonso, Juan Fernandez
Review by Jude Felton
The writing team of Dunstan and Melton have been busy bees
of late, having penned the Saw 4-6 sequels as well as the
Feast movies. With The Collector though they have gone it
alone with Dunstan taking the directorial reins and the two
of them also scripting the movie. What we get from this is
one cracking and quite distinctive looking horror flick.
Contractor Arkin has been planning on robbing his new
employer's rather luxurious looking house. However, his
plans get pushed forward when he learns that his ex-wife is
in over her head to a local loan shark. Eager to make things
up to her he promises that he will be able to help her out
by midnight that very night. Due to this hiccup he decides
to rob the house that night. This decision could prove to be
very costly to him though. The very same night another
intruder has also targeted the very same house, and this
fella doesn't have robbery on his mind, oh no, he has far
more nefarious plans for the house and its occupants.
The Collector starts off at a rather sedate pace, not
wanting to rush head-long into things. This works in the
movie's favor, lulling the audience into what will slowly
but surely turn into a frenetic game of cat and mouse awash
with blood. Lots of blood. The further into the movie we go
the more disturbing we find out the Collector actually is.
The intruder is a sick and twisted individual, and makes the
protagonists in the recent The Strangers look like Girl
Scouts in comparison.
Throwing a few traps and other nasty assortments at an
audience is not necessarily going to make a good movie
though. You need to have other factors working in your favor
as well, and fortunately we get them here. The atmosphere is
tense, even with Jerome Dillon's crashing soundtrack (which
I admit to thinking was great), and look and feel of the
movie works wonderfully. Nothing too much is revealed too
soon, which makes it all the more worth the wait. The
Collector is a dark and violent movie.
With all this going for it though it is a shame that a
little more thought didn't go into developing some of the
characters actions; specifically Arkin's. Some of his
decisions were suspect at best. That being said, this was my
only real gripe in what was as another tense and nasty
affair.
|
