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The Collector - 19/6/2010 2:58:32 AM

Empire Admin

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Post #: 1

Totally agree, really tense and fun. - 19/6/2010 2:58:32 AM

tysmuse

Posts: 255
Joined: 24/9/2007

Wonderful little horror movie this. The early scenes in the house when the burglar hero first hears the masked psycho are really tense, and the snappy direction really amplifies this. There's gore, but nothing like the extreme levels in the more recent Saw movies, so that's a bonus. Good movie.

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Post #: 2

RE: Totally agree, really tense and fun. - 19/6/2010 10:26:41 AM

MarcE

Posts: 284
Joined: 27/4/2010

I saw the trailer recently, it didn't give much away but its good to see its worth a watch.

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Post #: 3

- 19/6/2010 7:40:05 PM

strangeone

Posts: 44
Joined: 10/3/2010

Best horror movie i've seen in ages. Suspenseful, gory, and with a great soundtrack. Also, it offers a sympathetic lead- something rarely seen in horror these days.
Apparently it was originally intended as a prequel to Saw. I'm so glad they made it its own thing instead.

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Post #: 4

Distgusting It Should be Banned - 25/6/2010 8:12:19 PM

Bighousewill

Posts: 244
Joined: 5/12/2009

This was the sickest most distgusting film Ive ever seen, it was just horrible not fun at all.

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Post #: 5

Distgusting It Should be Banned - 25/6/2010 8:12:20 PM

Bighousewill

Posts: 244
Joined: 5/12/2009

This was the sickest most distgusting film Ive ever seen, it was just horrible not fun at all.

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Post #: 6

Brilliant - 28/6/2010 3:01:44 PM

paulmcdee

Posts: 45
Joined: 25/5/2007

Absolutely brilliant. Full of suspense and horrific scenes. It really had the feel of a lot of recent French horror films (Inside). It was only let down by a slightly disappointing ending. It needed a better climax but it was still a damn impressive horror film.Scary opening credits too!

< Message edited by paulmcdee -- 28/6/2010 3:04:26 PM >

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Post #: 7

- 30/6/2010 7:02:13 PM

sephiroth7

Posts: 150
Joined: 14/10/2009

O_O 4 stars. You gotta be fuckin' kidding me!

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Post #: 8

Quality - 1/7/2010 4:22:36 PM

T jay

Posts: 14
Joined: 3/2/2006

Went and saw this film last night and was very pleasantly surprised. Not since Sam Raimi's DMTH have I seen such perfect use of sound to create tension.. This really made the film for me. Genuinely quite frightening and was on the edge of my seat.. Lets just hope it is not murdered by unnecessary sequels every year... Judging by the ending.... IT WILL BE :o (

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Post #: 9

RE: Quality - 1/7/2010 7:05:31 PM

skeletonjack

Posts: 1297
Joined: 30/9/2005

As a huge horror fan I pretty much hated this throughout.
The whole movie is so dimly lit and rapidly edited that you struggle to make out just what the hell is going on.
When you do finally get to see the action it just seemed to be unpleasant for the sake of it rather than ever being thrilling or scary.
I can see why others would liken it to French horror movies of late, as it does follow similar beats, but films like Inside are far better crafted than this, and ultimately far more interesting.
1 star

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Post #: 10

RE: Quality - 1/7/2010 10:37:19 PM

Dr Lenera

Posts: 3444
Joined: 19/10/2005

Easily the best horror movie so far this year out of the ones that I've seen, this is perhaps best described as Saw meets Feast meets the second half of Home Alone, and was originally intended [apparently] as a prequel to the Saw series. However, like many of the best movies of the genre, it takes certain ideas from other films and then twists and builds upon them. A sympathetic burglar find that his latest house is actually full of traps set by a psycho who has already 'collected' other people-it's really quite a simple but clever set up ,and one that should be easy to create a great of suspense from. Marcus Dunston does better than that-from about 20 mins in ,he sets pretty much the rest of the film in the house and keeps you absolutely on the edge of the seat, in fact the tension is almost unbearable at times, even though sometimes it's just a couple of people stalking each other in the shadows. There's no stinting on the gore though-this is one really strong horror movie throughout, with tortures, slow and fast deaths that are often almost Lucio Fulci-like in their crazy inventiveness-I won't describe much of it so as not to ruin the surprise, but even I cringed during a teeth knocking-out sequence and when the hero tries to free himself from being trapped by various ways. I will say that's the hero's tolerence for pain is ludicrous and things do end in a really disappointing way with a really stupid, idiotic ending scene. Nonetheless, helped by a nerve shredding score that might not bemuch more then the typical grungy ambient stuff that horror films are scored with at the moment but is really effectively used here and made especially disturbing by what sounded like shrieking voices [in fact, it actually evoked bits of Goblin's Suspiria for me], this is a terrific horror film, frightening, clever and a bit of a treat for horror fans.
9/10

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Post #: 11

RE: Quality - 3/7/2010 2:21:22 PM

evil bill

Posts: 6557
Joined: 19/7/2006
From: mordor/ uk

Desperate to repay his debt to his ex-wife, an ex-con plots a heist at his new employer's country home, unaware that a second criminal has also targeted the property, and rigged it with a series of deadly traps.Director Dunstan makes his directorial debut with this gratuitous torture porn,which is a fast-paced, suspenseful horror that wastes no time on pointless exposition.It's has a 80s feel to it,from the dirty-ish cinematography to the pacing, editing and the casting choices.The sheer inventiveness of the slayings cover up a very thin storyline,which to be honest is pointless.Also movie seems like a setup for sequels,rather than a single work of art to be enjoyed,which is a shame.Overall it's a great horror movie that delivers on the whole,but i was expecting more to be honest,still a decent 7/10.

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Post #: 12

Rubbish. - 5/7/2010 4:25:17 PM

Death_Row_Marv

Posts: 90
Joined: 19/10/2005

The Collector

The Collector is a new horror film from the writers (Marcus Dunstan Patrick Melton) of Saw 4, 5, 6 and 7. This film even started life under a different name (The Midnight Man) and as a Saw prequel. However this was quickly dropped, just a shame the whole film wasn�t dropped.

Another gore fest with zero plot and zero characters anyone cares about. We get a lot of up close nastiness with completely over the top deaths and torture. A lot of this is nasty for the sake of nasty with no reason for any of this.

I�m going to make this section of the review as spoiler free as I can. The spoilers will come at the end as some of the more questionable moments are pointed out.

The film starts off with a couple returning home after a party to find a small box in their bedroom. As the man insects the box it jolts and a hand comes from behind to grab him. It then rolls the opening credits.

We cut to Arkin played by Josh Stewart a lock smith helping a family secure their home before they go away on vacation. We quickly learn after this his wife (possibly ex wife) is having troubles from a loan shark and has until midnight to pay up. So to save her and his daughter, he meets up with various criminal types (hanging out at a strip bar where else) in order to break into the family home, steal their jewelry and split the proceeds.

Once Arkin has broken into the home it quickly becomes apparent he is not alone and very bad things are happening to the family (who for some reason we never find out have not left.)
A masked man (who again from some unknown reason has set various traps through out the home) has captured the parents (Michael and Victoria Chase played by Michael Reilly Burke and Andrea Roth.) Arkin discovers that the youngest daughter (Hannah Chase played by Karley Scott Collins) is still in the home and having a crisis of conscience goes looking for her.

On his wandering round the home and avoiding the traps he discovers the same red box we saw earlier on in the film. The man from the start is in the box and is a lot of pain. Telling Arkin that his masked man collects people (again we never find out who or why.)

More fodder for the masked killer arrive in the form of the elder daughter (Jill Chase played by Madeline Zima) and her boyfriend. Once inside they quickly go about getting her naked. A few moments later both are dead in the most ridiculous manner.

Finally Arkin finds Hannah and they attempt to and eventually succeed in their escape leaving the collector seemingly severely injured on the floor. As we all know from watching horror films he is not dead and soon gets his hands on Arkin for a climax that leaves it wide open for a sequel I pray never comes.

Badly edited, badly directed, poorly acted with a plot with more holes than Swiss cheese and so many things that don�t make a single bit of sense. I really hope a sequel does not get made. This is not a good film. This is not a bad film. It is a terrible horror film. It is an utterly horrible awful film.

SPOILERS. SPOILERS. SPOILERS. SPOILERS. SPOILERS. SPOILERS.

Please note spoilers follow.

This film was so bad in parts I was angry watching it.

Why after he escapes does he stand in the road when oncoming police cars are coming to get himself hit????

Why when he finds the man in the red box he tells Arkin that he is there as bait. Bait for what????

Why at the start does he just go in and grab the person he wants, yet now sets a house full of traps when he has the wife and husband already???

Who, what, were, why is the collector seriously, I agree that knowing too much about a character can take away the scare factor eg. Hannibal, but vice versa having some random loon kill and torture people makes no sense.

Sorry if you like this film your a morron. That includes you Kim

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Post #: 13

RE: Rubbish. - 29/8/2010 1:39:49 AM

UTB

Posts: 8966
Joined: 30/9/2005

Christ, this is the worst film I have seen in years.

A piss-poor setup means that we are stuck following a Sean Penn-a-like running round a house that has been laced with Saw-reject traps (like a dozen bear traps... really) by a man who appears to be wearing a bin-bag around his head.

Even for horror fans, what few icky moments this film does have are entirely crapped on by the fact this film has no plot, no characterisation, no entertainment value, no humour, nothing.

I don't often complain about Empire reviews but if someone could possibly supply me with whatever Mr Newman was on when he watched this, I'd gladly give it another try whilst off my tits.

The fact that each time our protagonist goes to the window there's thunder and lightening should give you some idea of how shit this is.

Avoid like a racist relative.

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Post #: 14

RE: Rubbish. - 29/8/2010 10:38:39 AM

sanchia

Posts: 16675
Joined: 3/1/2006
From: Norwich

quote:

ORIGINAL: UTB

Avoid like a racist relative.

Can I borrow that sometime?

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Post #: 15

RE: Rubbish. - 30/8/2010 3:29:03 PM

UTB

Posts: 8966
Joined: 30/9/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: sanchia

quote:

ORIGINAL: UTB

Avoid like a racist relative.

Can I borrow that sometime?

Sure

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Post #: 16

Pile Of Crap - 23/10/2010 6:28:36 PM

joanna likes films

Posts: 987
Joined: 27/10/2007
From: Bexhill

Title says all, this film is a major pile of crap. Not scary, confusing plot and STUPID ENDING! Grr, avoid this movie like the plague. I swear Empire was on drugs while watching this, it's truely terrible and waste of my time.

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Post #: 17

Pile Of Crap - 23/10/2010 6:28:40 PM

joanna likes films

Posts: 987
Joined: 27/10/2007
From: Bexhill

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Post #: 18

- 3/11/2010 11:28:13 AM

reminn

Posts: 142
Joined: 22/10/2010

Good.

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Post #: 19

got under me skin! - 17/11/2010 1:25:27 PM

jerkyjudas

Posts: 81
Joined: 4/10/2005

yes there are a couple of continuity errors but this is a horrible film in the best sense of the word. i enjoyed it in a scared sat on my own at home in the dark sort of way. nasty man setting all those traps
! had to sleep with the light on and could here all sorts of noises from outside as i was trying to sleep! now thats what i want from a horror. i'm satisfyingly shaken !

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Post #: 20

got under me skin! - 17/11/2010 1:25:28 PM

jerkyjudas

Posts: 81
Joined: 4/10/2005

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Post #: 21

Collect my bin bags please! - 5/12/2010 4:31:37 PM

gzus

Posts: 49
Joined: 4/10/2009
From: Middle Earth, Brum

Ever since Bruce Wilis knocked the Gimp for six in Pulp Fiction he's been hitting the gym and has come back stronger and scarier than ever as seen in this bizarre film. Apparently he 'collects people' and is just doing the rounds on a normal, all -american family when another low life, handyman Arkin turns up in the middle of the night to steal the family fortune from their safe.

The Colector is like a Saw film brought straight in to your very home. It's extremely light on explanation, but somehow the Gimp boobie traps houses quicker than you can say 'Goonies', but most annoyingly it's also light -lacking visually, nearly entirly set in the dark. It's uninspiring stuff. It probably wouldn't work in a bungalow and Arkin getting a guilt complex is predictable. Apart from an uncompromising ending it does what it says on the tin, but really isn't much better than a Saw sequel.

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Post #: 22

Good film, dissapointing ending! - 18/1/2011 12:15:25 AM

tallaght24

Posts: 734
Joined: 20/2/2007

I did like this film right up until the last 5 mins. A completely bollox ending that makes no logical sense.

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Post #: 23

Good film, dissapointing ending! - 18/1/2011 12:15:26 AM

tallaght24

Posts: 734
Joined: 20/2/2007

I did like this film right up until the last 5 mins. A completely bollox ending that makes no logical sense.

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Post #: 24

Eh...Uhh.....Errrr.........It's Alright, I Guess. - 2/2/2012 3:43:14 AM

blaud

Posts: 722
Joined: 13/12/2007

This grimy little horror experience is a well-thought out and potentially excellent horror film that fuses the usual torture porn tosh with the nervy edge of a stalk n' slasher. A winning combination, maybe, but in the end, The Collector comes up dry. It's high gloss stuff, with production values nailing the dirty, antsy atmosphere to a T, and the mystery of the killer well considered and maintained. Even the first half of the film, with it's nail-biting premise and intriguingly gruesome situations, is an enjoyable affair. It's when people start to get loose and more people start to enter the house that things become a bit confused, and, henceforth, less interesting. The ending is also a little muddled, seems again that the filmmakers weren't sure which direction to go. However, performances get average to above average marks all round and the gleeful grossness of the torture scenes prevent this film from being stuck in indifference. It's a fairly entertaining ride, just not a very memorable one.

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Post #: 25