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Massawyrm Loves Loves THE COLLECTOR!! (First Review Of Film Anywhere?)
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
Horror is in a very weird place right now. After the major resurgence of traditional horror early in this decade, we’ve seen a the steady decline of the genre as great, original films get muscled out by an overabundance of horror (and J-horror) remakes, sequels and special effect driven ghost stories. So when something new and original comes your way - especially one in English - it is worth sitting up and taking notice. Such is the case with THE COLLECTOR. While on the surface it might appear to be your traditional masked killer send up (which is probably how it managed its way into financing) it is anything but ordinary. In fact, it’s quite a tense, brutal, nail-biter of a modern thriller/horror film.
The setup is simple. A down on his luck jewel thief who has been casing the house of a rich jeweler for several weeks gets put in a bind and he is forced to go in early. He has until midnight to snag the jewels and turn them over to a local fence before something very bad happens to his wife. Unfortunately for him, he’s not the only one who has been casing the family. As it turns out, a masked killer has trapped the family in their home and is killing them one by one…and he doesn’t know the jewel thief is there. The film rapidly becomes a cat and mouse game of one highly skilled man trapped inside a booby trapped home trying desperately to evade detection from a deranged madman.
What sets this film apart from the usual fare is its focus on the one man. Rather than the usual pack of victims running from deathtrap to deathtrap, this is about a character we never get to see in this kind of film all on his own and trying -- on occasion -- to be a good guy. But he’s not a good guy. At the end of the day he has to make a choice, and that choice starts with him trying to rob this house to begin with. While many of the standard horror archetypes find their way into the story, this is far removed from the stream of tight t-shirt wearing teenagers trying to figure out what’s going on while their friends get hacked to pieces.
This is the first film entirely written and directed by Marcus Dunstan, who many of you may remember from the final season of Project Greenlight. Both he and his partner Patrick Melton, who have worked together on the FEAST films, SAW IV-VI and have taken passes at a huge chunk of the horror films floating around out there, wrote the script pretty much free of the system that has been so abusive to their work in the past. What Marcus does with a modest budget here is fantastic - it is one of those efforts that whets your appetite for seeing what he can do with $20 Million horror. But despite the budget, there are a number of great effects and some fantastic cinematography that succeeds in giving the film a bigger, moodier feel than most low budget slasher films.
If Marcus made one mistake it was the choice of lighting in a few scenes of the film. There are a couple of moments that were lit in exactly the same fashion as the SAW films. And coupled with the fact that he’s written on the last half of the series, there are going to be a number of unfair comparisons to the Saw series. I would compare it to SAW, except that this is smarter, sharper and far more interesting than any of those films have ever been, and frankly is playing in a different league. While this comparison might play well with the beer and pretzels crowd, the geeks who are going to most appreciate the originality of the film might be turned off by the similarities.
Very much a post-torture-porn horror film, the camera never lingers. It is horror that relishes in the brutality of the kill rather than forcing the audience to endure the awfulness of the torture. This has some great devious kills - a few of which are just downright evil. At times it is as mean as a junkyard dog to its characters, but does so with pathos and some seriously fucked up moments.
The masked killer is also fairly interesting. Unlike most unnamed masked killers, THE COLLECTOR allows its killer to be seen both as deliberately human (rather than the normal, sluggish, seemingly indestructible stalking creep we’re accustomed to) and gives him an effectively creepy visage that won’t let you take your eyes off of him for a moment when he’s onscreen.
When all is said and done, THE COLLECTOR is a taut, tightly constructed thriller that slowly morphs into a brutal, scary horror film that had my wife yelling at the screen and did a great job of getting me to cover my mouth when it properly crossed the line. Loads of fun and much smarter than we’ve come to expect from the genre, this is exactly the kind of film horror fans will delight in discovering. THE COLLECTOR sees a respectably large release on JULY 31st.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
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But seriously brudda-me thinks this was reviews elsewhere.However, your reviews beats the shit outta the other one!
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getting a wide release?
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was Inside. Had many "you've got to be fucking kidding" moments. And I mean that in a good way.
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Thanks for putting this on my radar, AICN
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I'm curious,. WHat does your weekly life entail? Does Harry send you to these screenings? You've been saddled with some bullshit films to review-but oddly, your opinions are the better than Harry or the other dudes (beaks is pretty good too).
Does he also give you guys popcorn money? Or do you jsut get screeners to watch? WAY to much mystery! I need answers dammit! -
Very intriguing idea. I'm hoping for the best. Good review, Massa.
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" And coupled with the fact that he’s written on the last half of the series, there are going to be a number of unfair comparisons to the Saw series." If we wrote HALF the SAW series, than comparisons to those films are COMPLETELY fair.
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The novel "The Collector" by John Fowles would make an INCREDIBLE film.
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Love that mouth-rape scene. It's just so fuckin nuts.
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A nice little festivalhit and fan favorite that was never meant to become a multimillion $ franchise. It's not fair to punish it for it's lousy sequels.
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Name any good BIG budgeted horror movie that was GOOD/Classic. Drag Me to Hell was OK so we can get that out of the way. Any others?
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Damnit I really wanted to see this. But I'm going on Vaca for a week then. And unless this becomes a hit, I don't see it being in theaters for more then a week around me. When's Moon getting here damnit.
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It was predictable, annoyingly edited and just did not live up to its own hype. *****SPOILER***** There's no WAY the killer could lay there on the floor without moving a muscle for that length of time. For me, my reaction to the reveal at the end was more of a "what the hell - LAME!" when they were looking for a "Holy crap! THAT was the killer??" Nope - didn't work for me. *****SPOILER***** I've only seen one other Saw film after that and had a similar reaction. I won't see any more. I WILL, however, see The Collector. The premise looks interesting.
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The killer in Saw gave himself some traquilizers.
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Is actually coming to town tomorrow. Maybe pay for Moon sneek into Bruno or Trannys 2.
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Pass.
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By William Wyler in the 60s, with Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar. Very creepy film.
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I did like the camera flash scene. That was awesome and well done. And the ending when 1st experienced, was very good.
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And interesting is something you don't see often anymore when it comes down to Hollywood.
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Jul 09, 2009 4:06:07 PM CDT
So, wait... what exactly makes it so original, intelligent and s
by bruce of all trades
Besides the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time premise? Anything else? The trailer didn't make it look all that special, to be honest.
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Seriously this film is shit. Wasn't the several surpluss mart bear trap scene alone proof of this. Also the mask it's Dr. Deckers mask only dark with out the buttons, same damn eyelet parrtern on the back the eyes and mouth are stylized like leatherfaces hunter killer mask. the film looks like shit. I'm sure it is shit. I donlt trust this review. Massa love the new Friday Remake as well. And he's an early reviewer for this. It feels like another Hatchet play. Lets trump it up as the best before anyone else says shit. Not falling for it. Not again.
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dug it.
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The first SAW movie was above average. I thought it did a solid job with the budget and the story telling. SAW II on the other hand I figured out the puzzle in the first five minutes. If I had been there we all would have been having burgers and a pint down at the Winchester within fifteen minutes.
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Can't wait to see it
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Sounds pretty good.
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I may just yet look into this.
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That was a great moment to be in the cinema. I've never heard a theater audience collectively gasp before.
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An original horror film? Scary stuff indeed.
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not a remake of the adaptation of the Fowles book :(
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Yes massa sir, yes!
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this better not suck
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someone suggested this in the other talkback for this movie (the one with the trailer), and i will be so disappointed if that's the lame twist ending.
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The premise has hooked me. Even if the movie was shit, I'd have to admire the premise.
Very cool. -
Thanks, Massa. I'm not usually a fan of horror, primarily due to its recent string of silly PG-13 J-horror, teenie torture porn, and predictable Saw-ness, but "The Collector" sounds really good. Sounds like a return to something meaningful and brutal and spine-tingling. Plus, working on a low budget and without a Hollywood agenda often manifests the most classic, eye-opening results.
I'll try to check it out in my local theater. -
Making it look like a silly comedy. Wrong place, wrong time?
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"After the major resurgence of traditional horror early in this decade," When the fuck did that happen and how come no one woke me up for it?
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I saw this 2 months ago but am not a great writer so decided not to write a review on it. Bottom line is that if you like the Saw series you will like this. I am not a fan of that series so I thought this was mindless horror. You never learn anything about the killer. He just tortures and kills, you also never see his face. Also the title has no meaning as it never shows any "collecting". Just my 2 cents.
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I guess I just don't have any nostalgia for those old Jason movies or whatever so to me, horror seems like a genre that is as good as it ever was. We still get one or two great ones a decade and a couple interesting pulpy entries every year and a new piece of garbage in the cinemas every month and a new complete piece of garbage DTV every week. This genre is not an endangered species. It is the same as it always has been.
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although Massa made this sound interesting.
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Thanks for the heads up!!
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