Review: The Collector

The Collector      

Directed By:
Marcus Dunstan
Written By:
Marcus Dunstan & Patrick Melton

       Finally reaching the top of the short wait list on Netflix I was able to check out this new horror title recently released a few weeks ago.  I am happy to say that the wait was definitely worth while.  The Collector is brought to us by screenwriter and first time director Marcus Dunstan (Feast 1-3, Saw 4-7) along with the skill of his career long writing partner Patrick Melton.  Now, The Collector is nothing new and original story-wise and even some of the visual touches and some of the cinematography can be easily compared to an episode of CSI but there were some interesting things this title did that I really enjoyed.
       In the story we follow Arkin, a good natured man that is down on his luck and in a bad spot as he has only hours to repay a debt owed by his wife to some unsavory characters.  His only was to get the money is a heist of a large jewel hidden in the country home of his new boss recently scouted by Arkin that is now suddenly moved ahead of schedule.  As Arkin stealthily enters the house looking for his family's key to survival he realizes that another person has already beat him there, The Collector.  The Collector does exactly what his name states, he goes into peoples home and collects them.  The people he likes takes for himself and the others he doesn't want or that try to get away are left to his devious booby traps which he sets up through out the residence or worse, left to his own creativity with a knife.
       What follows is a wonderfully paced cat and mouse game as Arkin tries to get the jewel and attempts to save the residents that are in The Collectors clutches.  I have heard some people try and compare this movie to the Saw films and I don't think that does this film justice at all.  Yes, Jigsaw used booby traps in the Saw movies but he does not have that corner of the market all to himself.  Is Jason the only one that can wear a mask?  There are no other theme or motivational parallels between the two films besides that device.  Also, you need to stand back and realize that this film is written by the same duo responsible for the past few Saw films, therefore is makes sense if the atmosphere comes off a little similar.  I myself am happy to say that I left the Saw franchise to itself long ago after the 3rd installment.
       As I mentioned, there is nothing overly original about his film (but what titles are now a days) but the level of quality in the execution and pacing is what set this far above average for me.  Running at a tight 87 minutes as the action kicks off after the first 20 which was rightfully dedicated to good character structure and strong plot devices, the biggest of which is a ticking clock device.  Arkin has till Midnight to get the money or something bad will happen to his daughter.  Arkin looks at his watch when he first enters the home with only a little over an hour to get out of the house alive and as the film was running to a close I realized that the last hour of the film was actually in REAL TIME!! This is a very underused method due to the complexity it caused on set and within the editing room and they do it perfectly.
       I had hopes for this film due to my enjoyment of Feast but I was nervous since it was Dunstan's first outing as a director.  But I truly am happily surprised by the skill and attention to detail that came across in the film.  The characters of the film are filled with enough depth to continue the plot without overstepping it's bounds to overly dramatic attempts and the cinematography keeps the eyes happy.  The Collector character has great sense of eeriness about as he tip toes in the darkness with what must be a "Buttonface" inspired mask.  All of the actors brought good performances to the screen and combined with the rip roaring pace of the script.  The Collector is a need for any horror fans collection and shows that even though most of the good ideas have already been used they haven't all been used correctly.
4 1/2 out of 5

Top 10 People Of Horror We Want Back Part 10

We recently looked over at another site and saw a similar list that really disappointed us.  What this list represents are actors and directors that strayed away from the genre before we were ready and hope to one day see again.


1. Rob Bottin

Career Highlights:
Piranha
The Fog
Maniac
Humanoids From The Deep
The Howling
The Thing
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Legend Witches Of Eastwick
Robocop
Total Recall
Seven
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Fight Club


In the era of the 80's horror movement gore was god for most fans and Rob Bottin was behind a lot of the memorable splatter.  Bottin began at the very early age of 14, by submitting pictures of his illustrations to Rick Baker who eventually hired him.  Rob Bottin worked on the effects crews of various films over the years honing his craft and developing the skills he would need to create some of the most amazing effects in film history.  His first big break was his solo effects work on the Joe Dante directed werewolf film The Howling.  In The Howling, Bottin was able to create one of the most impressive werewolf transformations to ever hit the screens.  The effects were especially groundbreaking due to the fact that The Howling hit the screens months before his mentors' (Rick Baker's) Academy Award winning werewolf transformation for, An American Werewolf In London.  Though his film work could be discussed for days it is his work with John Carpenter that has truly set him apart from all others.  Now in an age of CGI for any effect process that is highly time consuming for complex, Bottin was able to create creatures that would still rival the best CGI today (sorry Avatar).  Cinematographer Dean Cundey introduced  him to director John Carpenter for a possible effects position on The Fog, afterwards the two kept their working partnership with the film, The Thing.  On set Bottin worked himself into a frenzy and almost broke down from exhaustion and stress due to the long seven day work weeks for over a year which even led to hospitalization after production for Bottin to recuperate.  The outcome was some of the most mind blowing creature work ever seen.  If anyone out there has not seen this film you must!  It truly is the genre at its best due to the high caliber of everyones efforts and performances.  Bottin went on to continue his impressive work over the decades until his unexpected retirement from the industry around 2003.  Many say his premature sabbatical is due to the high level of stress Bottin had reached on his last few productions. He now works as a realtor in California.  Whatever the reason was for his retirement, it is the film industry that was on the poor receiving end of the deal.  Now impressive and talented effects artists are few and far between and the only existing effects super power, KNB, have also made the very sloppy transition into the realm of CGI, and with a The Thing prequel in the works we will have a direct comparison of new effects vs Bottin's approach.   Everyday we hope to wake and read a headline that genre fans and effects kids alike have been dreaming of...  "Rob Bottin Returns To Hollywood!".

Top 10 People Of Horror We Want Back Part 9

We recently looked over at another site and saw a similar list that really disappointed us.  What this list represents are actors and directors that strayed away from the genre before we were ready and hope to one day see again.


2. Fred Dekker

Career Highlights:
Tales From The Crypt
House
The Monster Squad
Night Of The Creeps


Now even though Fred Dekker's resume is a little light compared to some of the other talented individuals on this list I must stand by my ranking.  It could be that the few films he was involved with just happen to be some of my favorites.  It could be that his films were released at a point in my adolescence when I was just discovering the horror genre and wanted to have my own M0nster Squad".  Or it could simply be that Fred Dekker was and, we all hope still is, an amazing writer and director.  Dekker attended film school at UCLA along with his fellow classmates and friends Shane Black (writer of Predator), Ed Solomon, and Chris Matheson (writers of the Bill & Ted films).  It was there that he built his writing skills leading to him making his writing debut with the Sean S. Cunningham produced and Steve Miner directed horror comedy House.   In the same year (1986) he made his directing debut with the cult classic Night Of The Creeps starring Tom Atkins.  A film that still remains one of its kind full of aliens, zombies, and creepy crawlies; that was just released on DVD  last year for the first time.  His next writer/director was The Monster Squad another horror comedy that spoke to the child and horror fan in all of us as which follows a group of middle school friends as they try to stop Dracula, The Creature, The Mummy, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman from attacking their small town.  Through the later end of the 80's into the 90's he focused more on writing with credits for 5 episodes of Tales From The Crypt, one of which he directed, and several non horror features.  Sadly his last directing effort was the disappointing Robocop 3; a film that was riddled with production issues from the beginning that left us with a fowl taste in our mouths.  Afterwards we never saw another directing or even writing credit from Fred Dekker now making it almost a 10 year hiatus.  With a rejuvenation in the popularity of Night Of The Creeps and Monster Squad he has begun to roam the convention circuit where the fans are letting him know that they want him back.  Let's hope he takes the offer.

Top 10 People Of Horror We Want Back Part 8

We recently looked over at another site and saw a similar list that really disappointed us.  What this list represents are actors and directors that strayed away from the genre before we were ready and hope to one day see again.


3. Jack Nicholson

Career Highlights:
The Little Shop Of Horrors
The Terror
Easy Rider
Chinatown
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Shining
Batman
The Witches Of Eastwick
Wolf
As Good As It Gets
Mars Attacks
The Departed


One of the greatest actors of all time, Jack Nicholson has won 3 Oscars with 9 additional Academy Award nominations.  With over 50 years and 60 films in the industry he has maintained an incredible level of quality in every one of his performances.  While it was his talent that created his impressive filmography it must be said that it's his unique swagger, cool demeanor and outright daringness that has made him the legend he is.  After starting off in 1960's horror his career began receiveing recognition with the counter-culture phenomenon Easy Rider.  Afterwards he was able to work with some of the most talent people in Hollywood as he kept building his skills as hardened detective J.J. Gittes in Roman Polanski's crime drama Chinatown; the following year in 1975 he would star in the Milos Forman directed One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and take home his first Oscar. It is however Jack Nicholson's role as Jack Torrence in Kubric's The Shining that makes him a god in the realm of horror cinema.  Through his career and working with directors such as Tim Burton, George Miller, Rob Reiner, James L. Brooks, and Martin Scorcese he as delivered to the screen a Nicholson-eque Devil, a Werewolf, and the legendary performance of The Joker.  As time continues and more high profile people begin to work in horror and thrillers again, we hope that he graces our genre one last time before his final performance.

Top 10 People Of Horror We Want Back Part 7

We recently looked over at another site and saw a similar list that really disappointed us.  What this list represents are actors and directors that strayed away from the genre before we were ready and hope to one day see again.


4. David Cronenberg

Career Highlights:
Shivers
Rabid
The Brood
Scanners
Videodrome
The Dead Zone
Nightbreed
Naked Lunch
A History Of Violence
Eastern Promises


Perverse... sick... brilliant.  David Cronenberg has brought a certain uncanny sensibility that has not yet been matched or even defined.  With his earlier work invading our minds and screens from the North in the mid 1970's, Americans were exposed his Canadian take on horror.  He first toyed with the body snatcher invasion in Shivers to the zombie like epidemic with Rabid (which is very much like Romero's The Crazies), to the fears of killer children in The Brood.  Each film his journey as a director gives us a  new and terrifying take on a sub genre of horror that we now see almost forgotten and miss-used.  While films like Scanners and The Dead Zone looked inward at the complexity of the mind and the power within; Videodrome, Dead Ringers, and The Fly looked outward at the complexity of sex and relationships.  Lately Cronenberg has moved out of the horror genre and into drama focusing on the importance and hardship of family.  First A History Of Violence follows a man who attempts to keep his family safe after an act of heroism puts him in the public eye and then Eastern Promises that lets us into the dark secrets of a Russian Mob family both of which received Oscar nominations.  It is a man of his intellect and exploration as a filmmaker that will give the audience experiences they have always wished for but were to afraid to ask.

The Walking Dead Are Coming!

A lot of news has just hit regarding the long awaited adaptation of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead which will soon to be hitting the small screen on AMC.  The series, which will be directed and exec produced by Frank Darabont, will be beginning production this June in Atlanta and is set to premiere in October around the Halloween season as part of AMC's two-week horror celebration, Fearfest, with an already ordered up 6 episodes to follow.  Now with news of KNB effects attached to the series, who previously worked on Frank Darabont's last film The Mist, I will bet they quickly ramp up production to a full series.  AMC president Charlie Collier recently stated, "AMC strives to make original shows that play like movies, and 'The Walking Dead' is a perfect complement... With its depth of story and the remarkable talent attached, The Walking Dead gives us an opportunity to raise the bar significantly within this popular genre and continue our commitment to being the home of premium programming on basic cable."  With news like this we can't wait to for October!

Top 10 People Of Horror We Want Back Part 6

We recently looked over at another site and saw a similar list that really disappointed us.  What this list represents are actors and directors that strayed away from the genre before we were ready and hope to one day see again.


5. Bill Paxton

Career Highlights
Mortuary
The Terminator
Aliens
Near Dark
The Vagrant
Brain Dead
Predator 2
Club Dread
Frailty


Simply put, Bill Paxton is awesome, now let me go into detail.  Bill Paxton began his career  in 1974 working as a set dresser on various films until he received his first feature role almost a decade later.  Over the course of his career he been under the direction of John Hughes, Walter Hill, Ron Howard, Jan De Bont, Sam Raimi, Robert Rodriguez, Kathryn Bigelow, and in 4 James Cameron pictures (who could choose to work with anyone in hollywood).   Bill Paxton has also moved behind the camera where he has produced various films and in 2001 made his directorial debut with and stars in the impressive taught thriller Frailty, which features strong performances by  Mathew McConaughey, Powers Boothe with Paxton included.  Currently he stars in the hit HBO series Big Love in the central role of polygamist Bill Henrickson; a role he has received 3 golden Globe nominations since it's inception in 2006.  In summation, there is a reason he is one of only two actors that have been killed by a Terminator, Alien, and a Predator.  Again, simply put... he is awesome.

Top 10 People Of Horror We Want Back Part 5

We recently looked over at another site and saw a similar list that really disappointed us.  What this list represents are actors and directors that strayed away from the genre before we were ready and hope to one day see again.


6. Tom Holland

Career Highlights:
Fright Night
Child's Play
Thinner
Tales From The Crypt


There is a from of sophistication and audience awareness that Tom Holland is able to bring into the films he chooses to write and/or direct. In the 1960's he started off his career as a television actor, a passion which he has continued though his career with a cameo in the upcoming Hatchet 2.  It was after over a decade in the industry in front of the camera he moved behind as a writer on such films as The Beast Within, Class Of 1984, and Psycho 2.  But it's his rejuvenating directorial efforts on the 80's horror classics Fright Night and Child's Play ; which he perfectly structured to attack the fears of younger viewers, that have sealed him into the horror hall of fame.  Fright Night focuses on the fears and paranoia in the mysterious neighbor concept with a vampire twist; which was wonderfully executed by a cast filled with newer talent and anchored by the great Chris Sarandon (see #9).  Child's Play takes the killer doll concept from the 40's and modernized the sub genre to what it is now.  With groundbreaking special effects by Kevin Yagher, the film was able to create one of the most terrifying nightmares a child can fear; your doll has come to life and wants to kill you!  Tom Holland brought the talents Chris Sarandon to the cast along with impressive performances by Catherine Hicks, a 7 year old Alex Vincent, and the iconic Brad Dourif.  As rumors of remakes for both of these titles bounce around we hope that the Hollywood Executives take a moment to look at who made these films great and dust off his phone number.