The Collector

The directorial debut of Saw screenwriter Marcus Dunstan, The Collector follows handyman/jewel thief Arkin (Josh Stewart) as he surreptitiously enters a client’s home intending to rob it – with his efforts thwarted almost immediately as it becomes clear that a masked maniac is holding said client and his family hostage and has rigged the premises with a series of brutal traps. Dunstan – along with cinematographer Brandon Cox – has infused The Collector with a grainy, high-contrast visual sensibility that effectively sets the stage for a gritty and downright brutal horror-movie endeavor, although it’s just as clear that one’s efforts at embracing the unapologetically spare storyline are initially stymied by a pace that’s perhaps just a little too deliberate for its own good (ie one can’t help but grow impatient for something to happen already). It’s only as Arkin comes to the slow but steady realization that he’s in the company of a madman that The Collector finally becomes more than just a slick exercise in style, with the film’s cat-and-mouse midsection rife with unexpectedly tense sequences and interludes (eg the family’s teenage daughter arrives home with her boyfriend in tow). There’s little doubt that the Saw-esque nature of the various traps (and Dunstan’s willingness to employ them to appreciatively grisly effect) plays a significant role in sustaining the viewer’s interest, and while Dunstan occasionally does go just a little too far in terms of unpleasantness (eg an unwatchable bit of business involving the family cat), The Collector is by and large an innovative, thoroughly compelling horror effort that’s obviously been designed to appeal primarily to hardcore gorehounds.

*** out of ****