The Collector follows a guy named Arkin. He is working on a house for a family that is getting ready to go on vacation. The dad works for a jewelry company. After work he goes to see his daughter and his presumably ex-wife keeps asking about some money that he is supposed to get to her. He’s a little short and tells her he’ll have the rest by midnight. He goes back to the now empty house and swiftly gets into the house to steal some jewels. But of course while in the house he suddenly realizes that he’s not the only one. The entire family has been captured and tortured by The Collector. A killer that likes to collect people. The house has been booby trapped and now Arkin is the only person that can save the family he was about to rob.
First off just want to say up front that I really enjoyed this movie. It’s going to be called a SAW rip off. And yeah it is. The duo that made it wrote the last two SAW movies and this idea was intended to be a SAW prequel. But they decided the idea was strong enough to stand up on it’s own. So the distinction that this is a SAW rip off is already there. That being said I definately thought this was way better than the last two SAW movies. The one thing about this movie that I liked is that they borrowed a rule from Hitchcock. Rather than be surprised by the traps ala SAW this time around we’re shown the traps up front which helped to heighten the tension whenever a character came close to them.
Acting in the movie wasn’t bad. All of the effects where practical effects. Minimal actors and locations made for a easy to follow story line. There were a couple of plot holes but what movies doesn’t have them? The kills were imaginative, and the tension ratched up. They do a great effect on the killer that makes his eyes reflect sort of how a cat or racoon’s eyes will in low light. It added a creepy aspect to the killer.
I really enjoyed this movie and was sad to only see 6 other people in theater on opening night. I was hoping this might help spawn into a franchise but it may end up being relegated to the DVD shelf. It’s just nice to go see a movie that has some tension and is actually some what scary since a lot of theatrical horror films are neutered now a days. I say give it a shot. If you’re on the fence make it a matinee. And keep in mind if this would have come out 6 years ago would we even care about another character named Jigsaw?