The Collector (www.the-usher.com)

"He will keep one of you"

Desperate to repay the debt owed by his ex-wife, Arkin (Stewart) agrees to return to his current employer’s new country house and take everything from the safe he just fitted. As he brakes in, he realises that Michael (Burke) and Victoria (Roth) have not returned to the city as planned. Trying to get out the house without been seen, Arkin discovers that the house has been rigged with traps to stop anyone from leaving. Desperate to escape, he discovers that the family is in fact is trapped within the house and been tortured by a masked assailant known only as the Collector (Fernandez).

When you discover that the people behind the ‘Saw’ movies are releasing a new horror movie, you could understand some trepidation for horror fans but ‘The Collector’ has a few shocks up it’s sleeve.

Marcus Dunstan is the man responsible for dragging out the ‘Saw’ franchise since the fourth film. With IV, V, VI and the final Saw 3D coming from his pen, the thought of another horror movie coming from this man might fill you with the wrong type of fear. While the ‘Saw’ movies have continued to drag on even after the main bad guy died and then became just an excuse for more gruesome torture horror, for ‘The Collector’ Dunstan takes that theme of torture horror and puts it into the hands of a man without reason and a man who did the killing for himself.

For ‘The Collector’ Dunstan and his creative team have constructed the ultimate torture house with a madman pulling the strings. While this may sound the same as the traps designed and used by Jigsaw in the ‘Saw’ movies, the Collector is very different to John Kramer. This is not about justice or teaching a family about their life choices but a planned torture that will only see one survivor and that survivor will only be allowed to life to keep him amused until his next set of murders begin. This time the Collector’s plan is changed and challenged by an unsuspecting thief who chooses the wrong night to break into his employer’s country house and steal their family jewelry. Here he discovers a house filled with traps and torture devices as Mr. and Mrs. Chase struggle to stay alive but it is their missing children that he is worried about, turning Arkin from thief to hero. The film then becomes a tension filled game of cat and mouse between a frantic thief-turned-hero and a masked killer who now has a new target.

As with all films of this type, Marcus Danstan has gathered together a cast of actors that you have seen many times before on the big and small screen but just cannot put a name to. Josh Stewart is the star of TV shows like ‘Criminal Minds’, ‘Third Watch’ and ‘No Ordinary Family’ but here he gets the chance with a leading role and does well as Arkin. Michael Reilly Burke and Andrea Roth play the key victims of the Collector, Michael and Victoria Chase and Madeline Zima and Karley Scott Collins are their daughters Jill and Hannah. Like all of the mask wearing nightmarish villains that have graced the silver screen over the decades, Jaun Fernandez gives a performance behind the mask that will creep you out.

‘The Collector’ might come from the people behind the ‘Saw’ franchise but this is a stigma they have moved away from. This is a tension filled, blood thirsty gory film that will make you cringe with fright but also bring a smile to the face of horror fans.

Audio Commentary with Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton.
Deleted Scenes
Alternate Ending
Music video for Nico Vega’s “Beast”

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2010