082: The Collector (2009)

Title: The Collector (2009)
Starring: Josh Stewart, Juan Fernández, Karley Scott Collins
Directed By: Marcus Dunstan

Ever since Saw became a surprise hit and made tons of money and spawned yearly sequels, Hollywood producers have been churning out gore-fests like this in an attempt to jump-start the next big franchise. The problem with this film in particular is that it's so caught up in trying to be the next big thing, that it doesn't even bother trying to make sense.

One of the best parts of the first Saw film came at the very end, when it was revealed to us that not all was as it seemed. The character of Jigsaw was set up then and there to be an intriguing figure, one whose origin and penultimate game plan could be explored. The Collector is NOT that type of character. We get little-to-no background on the character himself, and he's portrayed as a Jason Vorhees-style archetypal killer who uses elaborate (and utterly RIDICULOUS) booby-traps to kill instead of a handy dandy machete.

What's most disappointing about those traps, is that the viewer is never told what or where they are. We're introduced to these pitfalls through the eyes of our protagonist as he actually falls into, or nearly falls into them. That results in a lot of decent "Whoa." moments, but half the fun of a cat-and-mouse story for the audience, is the cat. We gotta have both. Otherwise, when some poor teenager gets torn apart in a den-full of bear traps, it's hard for us to care.

It also should be noted, that for one man to have set all of the torture devices and booby traps and safeguards in place in the amount of time that the film says he did, is ABSOLUTELY LUDICROUS! Watching how elaborate everything was set and just the amount of physical labor that would've been involved would easily have taken someone DAYS, not HOURS. Horror audiences are typically pretty forgiving when it comes to details like this, but should this actually become a franchise, it should be noted by the filmmakers.

That's not to say that I didn't find anything to enjoy in The Collector, because I did. I just also saw all of its flaws upon first viewing, and that's not usually a good thing for a horror flick. It just didn't really work for me.

Score: 5.5/10