THE COLLECTOR (2009)

[indianasmith]

I'm not a huge fan of the "torture porn" genre - I liked the first SAW for its great twist ending, but the sequels completely lost me.  But this movie, from the director of several SAW sequels, is quite entertaining and downright disturbing in some scenes.

Arkin is an ex-con and safecracker  trying to go straight, but his wife is deep in debt to loan sharks and facing dangerous reprisals.  Arkin decides to pay off her debts by breaking into the house of a jewelry exec he has just finished doing some remodeling for and stealing a huge ruby out of the safe.  He arrives at the house, knowing the family was supposed to have left on vacation that morning.  But when he arrives, he discovers that the couple have been captured by a twisted, masked killer called THE COLLECTOR,  who has turned their house into a maze of deadly booby traps.  Arkin faces a tough call - should he steal the jewel and make good his escape, or try to rescue this family he barely knows?

A sinister villain, lots of suspense, and some diabolical death traps make this movie a cut above others in its genre and definitely worth watching!

[claws]

Agreed. I watched this last night and it was pretty good.

[nilbog]

Yeas I saw this a few weeks ago! it's really quite good, very suspenseful as well. Also it is directed by the writer of several Saw films rather than a director of several Saw films.

[indianasmith]

I stand corrected, thank you sir!

[Jim H]

I actually agree, except the ending I thought both illogical and irritating.  Left a sour taste in my mouth, in what was otherwise a pretty decent film.

[indianasmith]

Did you watch the alternative ending?  It was worse!

[Jim H]

Did you watch the alternative ending?  It was worse!

Can you tell me what happened?  I love alternate endings!  My favorite DVD feature.

I saw the film in theatres though, so I didn't get a change on the alternate ending.

[indianasmith]

When Arkin is leaving the house after escaping the Collector, then turns around and sees the little girl at the upstairs window . . . (ALTERNATIVE ENDING SPOILER FOLLOWS!)





















He stares at her for a long thoughtful minute, sees the COLLECTOR's shadow moving towards the stairs in the house . . . and gives the little girl both fingers before turning and running off with the ruby!!!!

I would have been so mad if the real movie had ended that way!!!!

[Jim H]

Hahaha!  That sounds like a joke ending to me.  Wonder if that's true?

[indianasmith]

Bumping an old thread here, because I saw the sequel to this film today; called THE COLLECTOR.  Arkin is back too.  Great movie!  I may do a separate review on it later.

[Jim H]

Bumping an old thread here, because I saw the sequel to this film today; called THE COLLECTOR.  Arkin is back too.  Great movie!  I may do a separate review on it later.

Slight update, it's called The Collection.  It's very much Aliens to Alien.  I mean that quite literally, with the way some action scenes play out.  Also, the title collector himself is basically Batman if he were a serial killer. 

I loved it.  Major improvement on the first in almost every way.

[indianasmith]

I shouldn't type stuff late at night.  Yes, it was called THE COLLECTION.  I meant to start a thread about it but life is busy right now.  Maybe tomorrow.