The Collector

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with a house at night. The owners, Larry and Gena Wharton (William Prael & Diane Ayala Goldner), come home from a night of drinking. While Gena goes upstairs, Larry stays downstairs to read some mail. However, he finds that the lights don't work. Gena calls out for him, and so he rushes upstairs. In their bedroom they find a big red box. Larry assumes one of the workers must've left it. On top of the box is the message for the collection. The box suddenly moves. Larry opens the box and is shocked to find what's inside. A hand suddenly reaches out and grabs Larry.After the opening credits, we see another two-story house having some construction. Among the workers are an exterminator and a man named Arkin (Josh Stewart). The family living in the house is Michael (Michael Reilly Burke), his wife Victoria (Andrea Roth), their teenage daughter Jill (Madeline Zima), and their little girl Hannah (Karley Scott Collins). Michael asks for Arkin to finish putting bars on the windows today.While outside, Arkin smokes a cigarette while putting up the remaining bars. After he finishes, Michael pays Arkin for his work and throws in a little extra for Arkin's daughter Cindy. Michael tells him to cherish his daughter, since they get all weird once they hit their teens. Arkin thanks him and drives off.Later, at home Arkin and his wife Lisa go to the kitchen, where she asks him for the money. It turns out that Lisa owes money to loan sharks, and the deadline is tonight. She's planning on running away with Cindy since she can't pay them, but Arkin promises to get the money for her debt by midnight. Arkin calls Roy (Robert Wisdom) and wants to see him immediately. They meet at a sleazy strip club and talk inside Roy's car. Arkin is an ex-convict and Roy helped him out while in prison. Arkin has been repaying Roy by picking locks and stealing things for him. Arkin tells Roy that he's been casing the house he's been working on. Michael is a jewel broker, and has a valuable jewel hidden in a safe. The family is out of town now, and he needs Roy to pay him tonight. Roy finally agrees to the change of plans and allows Arkin to leave.Arkin drives back to the house at night, and we see that the house in the middle of nowhere. He puts on a mask and grabs his tool bag. As he sneaks towards the house, he is suddenly attacked by a newly placed dog (which takes a bite out of his mask). Arkin picks the lock to the back door of the house. He enters and everything seems fine. He goes upstairs to the master bathroom and lifts the mirror up, knowing that it covers the safe. He takes off his mask and starts to crack the safe when he hears someone downstairs. The Collector (Juan Fernández), a killer who wears a black mask, locks the back door and starts to come upstairs. Arkin quickly puts the mirror back, grabs his bag, and hides in the other room while the Collector is on the other side of the wall. The Collector goes into the bathroom, and Arkin sneaks downstairs. He tries to leave but finds that there are several locks on the top of the back door, all of which are now locked. There are also several locks on the front door as well. Arkin decides to find another exit, but for his family's sake, he finally decides to stay in the house to get the jewel.He goes back to the master bathroom and works on the safe again when he hears screaming through the vent. Michael emerges from the basement, beaten and bloody. Arkin hides his bag and goes to see what's going on. He sees that The Collector grabed Michael and took him to the basement. Arkin, having seen the whole thing, decides to call 911. He picks up the phone and doesn't see that a spike has been placed in the receiver. When he puts it to his ear, it stabs him. He decides to leave through a window, but he finds that they are all boarded up. He tries to remove the boards, but some hidden blades slam down on his hand. He tries to go to another door by the dining room, but he slices his face on hidden razor sharp wires tied across the room. He realizes that there are several traps hidden around the house. The floor of the dining room is filled with bear traps. Arkin goes to the kitchen to get scissors, but finds that it's booby-trapped. The Collector is roaming around the house. Arkin tries to go up the staircase, but finds that nails have been placed on the steps. With the Collector coming closer, Arkin has two choices go upstairs or go to the basement. He chooses the basement.Arkin uses his flashlight to see when he gets startled by something. He turns on the light and sees that Michael has been tied to a chair. He's bloodier than before, having been tortured with deep gashes all over his body and feet. Arkin asks where the rest of his family is. Victoria is in the basement as well, Jill is out with her boyfriend, and he doesn't know if Hannah is still in the house or not. Michael tells him that he has a gun in the safe upstairs and gives him the combination. Arkin has Michael quiet down and goes into the other room, where he finds Victoria chained to a bathtub. She also has duct tape pinned over her eyes. Arkin removes a gag from her mouth and calms her down. He says that he'll find Hannah and save them but she has to help him. He wants her to scream, so that when the Collector comes downstairs, he can sneak back upstairs. He tells her to stop screaming once the killer comes back down there so that he won't hurt her. Victoria screams, causing the Collector to come downstairs. Arkin sneaks upstairs and goes to the master bathroom. He opens the safe and grabs the pistol inside. He also takes the jewel, which is the size of a fist. The only problem is that there are no bullets for the gun. The Collector holds Victoria's tongue with a wrench and threatens to cut her tongue off, but doesn't do anything.Arkin looks all over for Hannah, but doesn't find her. He hears a noise coming from a closet. He opens the closet and finds a big red box inside, which is moving. He opens the box and Larry lunges out. His legs are chained to the box. Arkin asks him who he is and what he's doing there. Larry explains that the Collector collects people. When he finds someone that he likes, he'll capture them in the box and use them as bait for his next victims. He'll kill everyone else, like his wife Gena. Larry yells for Arkin to get out while he still can, but Arkin puts him back in the box. Arkin goes into Jill's room and sees that the window is wide open. He doesn't see that the floor is covered in some yellow/orange substance. Arkin takes a couple of steps in it and realizes that its acid. Arkin jumps on the bed and tries to retrieve his shoes, but they are stuck in the acid, along with the cat. The cat tries to free itself but screeches in pain, causing the Collector to hear the commotion upstairs. Arkin rips the cat free and throws it away, landing on the window. The reason why the window was open is because its booby-trapped. As soon as the cat lands, the window slams shut and slices the cat into two, splattering blood all over Arkin's face. The Collector goes upstairs and hears Larry in the box. He just kicks the box to get him to shut up. He then goes into Jill's room and finds that the cat is dead. Arkin hides under the covers of the bed, and he has placed books over his shoes to cover his presence. The Collector leaves the room, and Arkin does as well (using the books as stepping stones).Arkin grabs a paper clip and sneaks into the basement again. Once there, he finds that Michael has been hung upside down and killed. He goes to the other room and frees Victoria from the bathtub (using the paper clip to pick the handcuffs). Yet, the collector finds her and repeatedly stabs her in the chest, causing her to fall down the stairs into the basement. Arkin hides under a desk as the Collector drags the still alive Victoria back to the tub. Arkin uses the opportunity to escape back upstairs. The Collector sews Victoria's mouth shut and records her screams. Arkin breaks a window with a lamp to try to escape, but then hears a car outside.Jill and her boyfriend Chad (Alex Feldman) are fooling around in Chad's car. The Collector also hears the car and goes upstairs. Arkin tries to warn them not to come in the house, but it starts to rain outside, causing his screams to go unnoticed. Jill and Chad go inside the house and continue to fool around, oblivious to all the traps around them. They go to the kitchen, where Chad rips Jill's blouse open and takes off her bra. Arkin sneaks downstairs and crawls underneath the dinning room table. Jill eventually notices the Collector nearby and becomes scared. The Collector readies his knife and approaches the couple. He stabs Chad through the hand and pushes him through the doorway, where a trap causes a cleaver to slice his fingers off. Chad then steps into the dining room, where his leg gets stuck in a bear trap. He falls to his knees, causing his other leg to get caught. He finally falls backwards, where he is graphically killed by a plethora of bear traps. The Collector grabs Jill and locks the back door again. She calls 911, but he pulls her away before she can say anything.Arkin sets off an alarm clock upstairs, causing the Collector to go investigate. Arkin finds that Jill has been tied to the staircase with barb wire. He frees her, but she freaks out and grabs the scissors from the kitchen. A trap throws her across the room and she is impaled by hidden spikes behind a projector screen. Arkin goes upstairs, removes the boards from a window, and punches the glass out. He jumps down to the ground and starts to run away when he looks back and sees Hannah screaming out for him in a window. He then sees the Collector making his way towards Hannah, having heard her screams. Arkin runs back to the house, but the Collector reaches Hannah first. He corners her on the staircase but Arkin shows up and pistol whips him. He carries Hannah to her room and locks the door. They hear the Collector trying to break down the door. Arkin comes up with an idea. Hannah and Arkin stay off the floor. The door bursts open and Arkin breaks the fish tank, covering the floor with water. Hannah then pushes her TV onto the floor. However, the Collector has pushed Larry through the door, and so Larry is electrocuted to death. The Collector throws knives at Arkin, but he manages to escape with Hannah to another room. Arkin turns around and gets a fish hook through his eyebrow. There are several hooks dangling from the ceiling. The Collector uses Larry's body as a battering ram on the door. Arkin sends Hannah down a laundry chute, which sends her to the basement. Before Arkin can go down the chute, the Collector breaks through the door and grabs him. While they fight, Arkin rips the Collectors mask off. The Collector knocks Arkin out and puts his mask back on.Arkin has been placed in the basement. His hands are handcuffed and there are several fish hooks impaling his back. The Collector wakes Arkin up by slicing his forehead with a knife. Arkin sees Hannah hiding under the desk and pleads with the killer to let Hannah go. The Collector notices that Arkin keeps looking towards the desk and approaches it. Arkin insults the Collector calling him a faggot. Angrily the Collector slices Arkin's chest. He also knocks out one of Arkin's teeth. Another car arrives at the house. It's a cop responding to Jill's 911 call. The Collector leaves the basement. The cop looks into a window of the house and sees Chad's mangled corpse. He goes around back and finds the Collector standing outside. While the cop tries to arrest him, the dog lunges at him and rips his throat open. The Collector then breaks the cop's neck, killing him. Arkin painfully tears himself free of the hooks and gets Hannah. They find that Victoria is dead in the bathtub. Arkin sees that the Collector has filled the tub with gasoline and realizes that he plans to burn the house down. The Collector grabs the cop's shotgun and enters the house with his dog.To get out of the basement, Arkin ties himself to Hannah and crawls through the laundry chute. He pulls Hannah up just before the dog attacks her. Arkin then lights a toilet roll on fire and puts it in a trash can. When the dog goes upstairs to attack them, Arkin shoves the flaming trash can into the dog's head, killing it. Arkin fights the Collector and knocks the shotgun into the basement. They beat the crap out of each other and Arkin knocks the Collector into the basement. The Collector grabs the shotgun and blasts his way through the door. He finds Arkin holding Hannah nearby. He shoots at them, but realizes that he's been fooled. He just shot at a mirror. Arkin and Hannah are actually behind him. Arkin releases the wire for the chandelier, causing it to crush and stab the Collector. Arkin and Hannah make it outside and run off. The Collector, wounded, also leaves the house. They get to a road, where Arkin sees a swarm of cops heading their way. He has Hannah stay by the side of the road. He runs into the middle of the road to flag them down, only to get hit by a cop car.Arkin, dazed, looks to Hannah and sees the Collector sneaking up behind her. He yells out for her as he grabs her, but he sees that the man who grabbed her is a police officer. Hannah is safely placed in a cop car. As Arkin is put in a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance, the house explodes in the distance. Arkin tells a police officer that he saw the Collector's face. The cops have found an address fitting the suspects description and leave to investigate. Suddenly, a van crashes into the ambulance, causing it to flip over until it lands upside down. The van moves closer to the ambulance. The Collector opens the ambulance and throws a knife into the paramedics eye, killing him. He then uses another knife to cut Arkin free of the stretcher. Arkin begs and pleads with the Collector to let him go. After bringing Arkin to the back of his van and having thrown him inside the red box, it is revealed that the collector is the exterminator who Arkin had worked with at the begining of the film.After the end credits, we see the Collector watching a slide show while sitting on top of the red box. Inside, Arkin yells that he's going to kill him once he gets out. The Collector kicks the box to shut him up.

Tags: violence, suspenseful, murder, flashback

Review:
Although I'd never seen any of the actors before, the performances were top- notch.Makes the last SAW films look like a teddy-bear's picnic...apparently, it was written by the writers of the last few SAW movies.
I saw this film yesterday with two of my friends.It was this or Funny People but I've lost faith in Adam Sandler since "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" And none of us wanted to watch Harry Potter so walking in to the The Collector it was fifty fifty that it was going to be any good considering it's from the writers of the last couple of Saw movies.
Yes the story has many plot holes and it leaves you guessing on why and how but if your a big gore and horror fan then this is the movie to see.
An ex-con, desperate to help pay his ex-wife's debts, breaks into the seemingly deserted house of his employer, only to find that he isn't alone: a twisted nut-job in a gimp mask has taken the owner and his wife captive and has littered the building with deadly traps.The masked killer in The Collector has got to be one of the most organised and productive psychos in movie history.
I don't know about you, but it takes me the best part of a day to put up a bloody shelf.The thing that really puzzles me, though, is why he bothers with all of these devices in the first place since he's already trapped most of the family (the youngest daughter is hiding in one of the many rooms), and the oldest daughter (played by buxom babe Madeline Zima, who kindly provides the requisite topless scene) surely wouldn't represent much of a problem when she returns from her evening out with her boyfriend.
Still, without the traps there wouldn't be much of a film, and since I had a lot of fun watching the characters meet their gruesome fates via various ingenious means, I'm willing to be a little forgiving about both lack of logic and motive.It's clear that what matters most to director Marcus Dunstan is not explaining why and how his killer does what he does, but rather that his film creates a palpable sense of dread—which it does—and that people die horribly— which they do.
Dunstan successfully builds a decent amount of suspense and atmosphere and sure doesn't hold back on the graphic stuff, delivering plenty of moments that'll be particularly uncomfortable viewing for the more squeamish of movie-goers: amongst the gory treats we get a delightfully bloody death by bear-trap, a disembowelled body, finger chopping, impalement on spikes, fish hooks in the face, a mouth being sewn closed, and a cat slowly dissolved in acid before being sliced in half!And since there's nothing quite like a half-melted moggy being bisected by a window rigged with a guillotine, I'm happy to—despite the flaws in the narrative—rate The Collector a pretty decent 6.5/10, rounded up to 7/10 for IMDb..
As the story of the Collector unfolds, it quickly becomes obvious that writer/director Marcus Dunstan is knowledgeable when it comes to the horror genre and knows what makes people click.
This movie is by far one of the best horror movies I've seen, and I believe the best to actually hit theaters.While there is a lot of violence and gore the movie relies on suspense and really making you feel the characters fear.It has the creepy vibe that The Strangers gave off and the intelligence of the Saw movies.
This is NOT your everyday, run of the mill slasher movie that is equal to 90 minutes of random blood splattering.You actually think and this film makes sense, 90% of the time anyway.
Most horror movies you watch and sit there thinking how stupid the protagonist is but in The Collector he actually acts as most people would in reality.The best thing about this movie is the over all creepy feeling it gives you with its realistic plot.It is without a doubt the creepiest, scariest horror movie of modern times..
On the other hand, if you'd like to watch brutal torture for almost two hours, with no apparent explanation or motivation and no plot driving anything, then this may be the movie for you.
For the record I'm a big horror fan (and like the Saw films) and I hated this movie.
the writers of SAW make a movie involving a killer and a house full of traps.
The stupidity of the protagonist and all the other characters also.My review will contain spoilers, but trust me this movie should only be ever be watched by the most evilest people in the world So we have an ex con with a newly found attitude, who plans to break into a house that he's currently working inside of when the family plan to go on holiday, so he can pay off his girlfriends debt so ykno, shes not murdered.First plot hole.
Nevermind that, lets ignore it for now.Upon arriving at the scene, when going to work on the safe the protagonist hears footsteps, and finds the house booby trapped.Lets ignore the fact that the protagonist never seen any traps while making his way to the safe, another plot hole.
I enjoy horror and some gore as much as anyone, but what I can't stand is 2d characters that have an iq identical to their age, no plothole or reasons why the killings are happening, and being expected to believe this is realistic.The sad irony is Freddy Kreuger is far more easier to swallow and believable as to what could happen in todays world, than this movie expects you to swallow, yet this movie is supposed to be based on real life, its that bad.I suggest avoiding this movie like the plague, unless you just want to watch mindless killings happening, in which case I suggest you get help if seeing blood by someone being stabbed is what you consider good.
The ending of that scene, coupled with the imagery accompanying the electronic/industrial opening soundtrack, does in fact remind of Saw, but that's where the good similarities end.The Collector's central actor Josh Stewart, who looks as if he could be Sean Penn's younger brother, plays Arkin, a longtime handyman for a rich family.
During Arkin's evasion of this other figure, he finds that not only is the family still at home, but they are being held and tortured, and the house is filled with traps (razor wire, acid, knives, and the like).
A plot, motive, conflict, and resolution.Yes, there's definite patronage for 'slasher', and torture movies like 'The Collector', but perhaps we're losing the plot, and the basic tenets of film.
This film is perfect time, good acting, sound and a super end.Begins with a safe robbery plan and the burglar finds that he is not the only one in the house practing criminal acts.
Now the writers may be in familiar territory here ( As they were involved with Saw ) and there may be a few people who want to draw comparisons to that series, this is an entirely different animal.The film does start out slightly slow introducing the story elements that are only there for the sake of having a storyline...
There's a satisfactory amount of gore, victims that are typical yet not butchered in the general typical fashion as in most by the numbers horror films.It doesn't break any new ground, but if you want to have a good time at the theater watching a horror flick...
This movie is just plain sickening.Script,directing,acting,cinematography and set direction are all horrendous.The movie is something in the lines of the SAW series, a maniac serial killer picks random people to kill them in the most gruesome way possible.
The exception is that "the collector" walks in to peoples houses and sets up sadistic traps and lock them in so they have no way of escaping, furthermore the killer from what we are told throughout the movie has no motivation.
Personally I couldn't care less about the lacklustre plot and the if's but's and wtf's, this film ticks all the right boxes, and despite the weaknesses in the plot it delivers in a way that you know only happens once every few years, like jigsaw rising from the floor at the end of Saw, or the axe vs head moment in wrong turn.
The plot is what dragged me to watch it , because i'm not a big fan of horror movies especially not when i heard that director was the one who made SAW...
The story is flawed, incoherent and imbecile, and surprisingly this movie is overrated in IMDb and with good reviews, some of them visibly fake by simpleton users with only one review in IMDb. There many incoherent and ridiculous situations like, for example, how could the Collector put all those gadgets and traps in the house in a couple of hours with the family at home; or when Arkin succeeds in leaving the house but returns to rescue Hannah in an absurd attitude; or why Hannah decides to show up only when Arkin is outside the house; or how the police officer could be surprised by the dog having a gun in his hand; or how could the invulnerable Collector survive to the chandelier with knives and then attack the ambulance.
I saw The Collector thinking "this movie looks OK, it has a cool plot line but it will probably be just as bad as every other horror film recently created." I was sadly mistaken.
I didn't exactly know what I was going to get with "The Collector", some people were saying it's a complete gory mess with it being sick and twisted for the sake of it with no character development or plot.
The special effects are very good on the whole actually and their are plenty of moments that will make you cringe.It has a great claustrophobic atmosphere and their is this horrific feeling of not being able to get out and the booby traps are also quite clever and didn't take over the film like I thought they would.
In the end "The Collector" is a brilliantly fun horror film which delivers something we've all seen before but in a slightly different way.
The Collector also looks and feels like a Saw film.
Originally envisioned as a prequel to Saw, but created as a vehicle in its own right when that franchise's producers balked, this is a movie that has much more going for it than standard horror fare.It all starts with the premise, telling the story of Arkin (Josh Stewart), a member of a contracting crew renovating a large estate owned by a jeweller.
The result being that Arkin must bring all his skill as a burglar to bear to not only hide from The Collector, but in a novel turnabout, becomes the saviour of the captives as he attempts to rescue the very people he set out to rob.There's a lot going on here to like, from the cat and mouse game played out between the two criminals, to Arkin's navigating the Saw-like traps that The Collector has laid in wait for the family's kids to come home, and his desperate attempts to figure out a way to thwart The Collector at his own game.Unfortunately the film succumbs to the temptations of the genre, and Director Marcus Dunstan feels obliged to deliver the requisite scenes of gore and dismemberment, much of which is purely gratuitous and not needed given the compelling nature of the plot.
There are many really great horror movies that are a classics now - like, Psycho, or Saw series.
The Collector was made a few years ago, and it got people attention by advertising it was made by some of the people behind Saw. Being a big fan of the first movies of the clever puzzle franchise Saw, I immediately felt the urge to watch this film.
The Collector keeps the phase up as it drags you into a house of traps, with only a few seconds to figure out a safe route.This movie does not provide a lot of shocks to keep the adrenaline going, but instead it mixes gore, action and suspense, to let you know what is at stake, how easily it can go wrong and that anything can be coming next.Why should you watch this movie?If you are looking for a movie that will keep your mind on the film and make you forget about everything else for the duration of the movie.
I think they simply don't understand what good horror is and should not watch without seeing the trailer first!I have seen the same level of heartwrenching, and simply gruesome scenes in say, a historical trek into an area where the enemies are cannibals that like to skin their victims alive - i have seen worse gore on a TV series that is not full of jumps and shock....
A rating is not just "I don't like these kinds of movies".Thing of the definition of Horror that applies to a film - in my mind it is a movie that contains very harsh/disturbing, and generally some good old blood and guts.
It's like a low-rent version of "Saw".The movie is about a guy who intends to burgle a house he has done some handyman work at to pay a debt to some loan sharks.
He breaks in there, but finds another criminal has already visited the place and filled it with traps.That's basically it.The comparison to the "Saw" movies, I feel, is going to be unfavourable from most people in the audience, because the traps in this one aren't nearly as creative.One weird detail is that the shiny-eyed, masked serial killer in the movie is played by Juan Fernandez, the Dominican actor who Charles Bronson attempted to make eat his own watch in the sleaze classic "Kinjite".
The Collector (2009) is a very thrilling horror film that will keep every member of the audience on the edge of their seat dying to know what happens next.
There was the suspense thriller aspect, gore to the torture porn levels in the right places and also a believable story with good characters.
I don't understand how people have slated this, no its not the best horror but all parts of the movie are done greatly.At the beginning we see a older man and his wife open what looks like a trunk with movement then the film begins.The main character is Arkin a former thief who owes his wife some money for the debt they both owe due that night.
Soon enough he comes across the tortured mother and father who begs him to save their children.Its thief verses serial killer The movie would appeal to all types of horror fans its watchable, a mini gore fest and has good character development.
But the difference is saw has a rule while this movie the killer only puts the traps in the unknown houses.
I should mention that i didn't know The Collector was made by the writers of some of the SAW movies either..
The deaths of the characters are different, and gory, though I would like to have seen the Fathers death.The film is full of twists and turns, and I didn't even work out the ending!Really cannot wait for The Collection, and am looking forward to seeing what happens to Arking!.
The Collector is an odd movie that succeeds in what it wants to do, but fails to achieve what it should be able to do.The movie does a respectable job of establishing character, and motive for the protagonist and sets up the viewer to care for his actions and their effects.After a strong start, once the setup is complete and we enter the movie fully, there is a strong element of suspense which demands viewing.The traps remain the star of the show, but without being a bore, I found myself increasingly sceptical to their feasibility which rarely occurred in SAW etc, in several instances noting that some of them would only work properly in specific situations, and in others, the antagonist seemed woefully incompetent in comparison to his ability to set up the traps in the first place.It doesn't take long for the flaws, which in so many movies can be ignored, to become so regular and glaring that it becomes hard to invest emotionally in the movie at all, and in fact, a certain amount of distaste at the plot crowbar to set itself up as a franchise.When a movie sets out to break established plot necessities, it has to be sure of doing them well, but the plot is absent of a 'heros journey', and ends poorly leaving more questions than answers..
If you like suspense, then this movie is full of it.A burglar (Josh Stewart) goes to rob a house thinking the family is on vacation.
Though to keep it to the one and a half hour runtime the writers, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, do a good job of making the Chase family come out as "Normal" though.The one and only drawback to the whole movie, and the reason for the low score is The Collectors traps.
I have always been a fan of horror genre ever since I was a little kid but mere torture or gore just don't scare me unless it is within the context of a good story, well-developed characters and good acting.
The Collector, good solid horror film..
Yes, there are similarities to Saw and Hostel and yes some will deride this flick as being nothing more than the latest entry into the "torture porn" genre but if you're a horror fan and you let those things deter you from experiencing this film on the big screen then you're going to miss out on a truly enjoyable evening at the movies.Full disclosure: I LOVED the original Saw and have at least liked all of the sequels.