MovieChat Forums > The Collector (2009) Discussion > Absolutely brilliant film.

Absolutely brilliant film.

posted 13 years ago by MasterlessSamurai
23 replies | jump to latest

My God. It is 2011 and I had only heard about The Collector, from what I was told, the movie was poor, not engaging and about as poor and embarrassing a film as Case 39, which is truly cringe worthy.

I finally decided to purchase the film and my God I am stunned at how effective this film was.

First off I loved the saturated colours, the intense darkness of the lighting, the uses of different hues, the grain and noise effects really sink the atmosphere into grime, grit, dirt, filth, and blackness. The movie also used some wonderful cinematography that I had not seen used in a genre such as this.

I suppose the closest some of the camera angles, shots and overall cinematography could be compared to is the Saw series, but The Collector takes the concepts, and reshapes, bends them and twists them for enthralling pans, twirls and stills, very very creative. I think this is some of the most inventive camera work for some time.

As for the film itself the plot was simply a device. Man cases families house, man needs money, man plays robbery, utter and total chaos descends thereafter, and brilliantly as well. It is not easy to set 85% of a film in basically one location, one area and extract it for all its worth.

It takes ingenuity and a clever mind, and while The Collector did not to me; take full advantage it came pretty close at smartly using one location and a small surrounding area in creative ways to keep the audience engaged, interested and wondering what was going to happen next.

I see people criticizing this film for the usual horror tropes which beyond ridiculous and almost laughable. In every gore, thriller or horror film there will be silly Policemen, that do nothing. It has been this way since the 1970s and better films and worse films like this use Police in the same way. Asking how did The Collector find time to set all these traps, and even go on to criticize the film for not being realistic? Are these people even remotely serious?

Transformers 3 is a bad film because its a bad film it has nothing to do with realism, in a God forsaken slasher, cat and mouse flick. Realism is the dead last excuse someone should even attempt to bring to the table.

I find these attempts not only preposterous, but subterfuge, and if for using a better word; lame. It's almost desperate reaching.

Was The Collector perfect? Far from, I actually wanted more gore, more chaos and more madness, but what I viewed was great, and I hear there is a sequel coming out and I hope the directors and writers follow the same cinematography and oppressive darkness of the first.

Personally I cannot wait.

Final rating 7/10.

[–] Stryde22 13 years ago

finally, someone else who appreciated the actual film style. i only just watched this and whilst Gorn is not really a favourite genre of mine (far from it), i was mega impressed by teh direction and cinematography in this. easily surpasses the later saw films in that field. at first i watched the movie cringing at how it seemed to be trying to push the gore boundaries as its main selling point. but then when i laid back a little and instead viewed it as a claswsic style horror movie with impressive effects, it became much more enjoyable. flawed, very flawed, but also very entertaining as a *beep* crazy nightmare scenario.

[–] cermwolf 11 years ago

weak story, weak plot, stupidly done.
Couldnt have gotten over quicker.

If you can make it through this its for you.
Id rather buy the dvd and throw it out than watch it

[–] kellyrobb 13 years ago

Absolutely agree! Just saw movie and wanted to know what other people thought, was so surprised at all the haters! I watch a lot of horror/thriller and this was definitely up there with the best. It's not often that I have to watch a movie from behind my hands, hit all the right notes for me.

[–] andell 13 years ago

You're sending mixed signals here: at various points calling it brilliant, then noting it wasn't perfect, while deriding people who didn't like it, and ultimately rating it a very slightly better than average 7/10!

Fact is there is a lot going on, but not much of a story to all this chaos. It's a mayhem flick...and although it may be full of effective mayhem...at the end of the day, it is going to be regarded as ridiculously weak to people who think that the story is as important as the visuals.

That's why a film like "Pearl Harbor," which had incredible visuals and a ridiculous storyline, was widely panned! That's why "Pulp Fiction," which had LOTS of mayhem AND a story as well, is widely regarded as one of the best films of the last 20 years!

So half your rating, take off another point for a completely unsatisfactory ending, and you get my rating: 2.5/10!

[–] desertsonata 12 years ago

Wrong. I honestly don't care that much about visuals, and I thought the story was fantastic.

[–] Flabrezu 12 years ago

You thought the story was fantastic? The story is people stuck in a house with another guy who's trying to kill them. There's next to no story in this movie.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] gold_nava17 13 years ago

I definitely thought The Collector was a brilliant film! It's sad that films like these are overlooked! I watched the movie Saw and it sucked compared to this movie! This movie is a 10/10!

[–] moviephantasm 13 years ago

Well directed.

[–] t_queen911 12 years ago

Great movie

[–] nrkist2424 12 years ago

I thought this was a pretty great film as well. The one thing I would have toned down was the gore. It was over the top and unneeded when what really drives the film is the tension. The creeping in the dark, being stalked, the near invisible wires and the threat of unseen traps.

Now the traps themselves don't really make sense, though I have some theories regarding this. Who was the Collector there for? He had no care for the family who he was sadistically torturing and murdering. Infact, they were all captured at the point Arkin entered the house even though the Collector hadn't even started setting most of the traps. Some might argue that the traps were set for the little girl that was still loose, but as we see later in the film, she easily evades the Collector and his trip wires simply because they are designed for an adult sized person. So who were these traps for? Arkin? How could the Collector have even known Arkin would be there? I think there is something here.

Think about this. The family should not have been there. We know the daughter ran off prior to their trip. Did the family stay behind awaiting the daughter's return? Would the Collector go to a house on the very night it was supposed to be empty? Only if there was someone there to collect. Arkin is the only person that 'should' have been there. So this was a setup of some sort by the guy leveraging Arkin's family for 'one last job'.

Also, Arkin unmasks the Collector as they struggle in the bathroom and they are both temporarily frozen in shock. Arkin isn't frightened, he seems confused. The Collector as well takes a second to recover his shock from being exposed before knocking Arkin out. What are the chances Arkin and the Collector recognize each other and just happen to be plying their crooked trades in the same house?

Who did the Collector take? He took Arkin. That's evidence enough in my opinion. He went to great lengths to get Arkin. Even chasing him down and running the ambulance off the road.

I think there are some rather clever elements to this film, but people get turned off very quickly by the absurdly complex traps that really push suspension of disbelief and disregard these little clues.

[–] minhas4 12 years ago

Whoa that is a pretty crazy and believable theory you have there. Although disproven by the sequel, I like your style.

I strongly disagree on toning down the gore. The gore is part of what makes this movie enjoyable. You can't have a gruesome, dark movie like this with all the traps and violence without bloody goodness. It just comes with the territory.

[–] jojove3 12 years ago

Your excellent analysis makes me think the filmmakers had this set up as a franchise from the beginning to definitively answer all these questions. The Collection is confirmation of this and seems obvious now. The success of this movie served only to fast track The Collection. And if anyone has already seen The Collection (without providing spoilers) have and of the pieces of the puzzle been put together?

Kiss my grits!

[–] nrkist2424 12 years ago

Thanks for the kind words regarding my analysis! Unfortunately...they are canonically wrong. Rent The Collection when it becomes available, but prepare to be disappointed. It has no callbacks to any of the setup from the first film. Maybe they intended to go somewhere with the setup I suggested, but they passed and went for an awkward Die Hard stand-in and tossed the first movie out the window.

The Collection also lacks all the things that made The Collector awesome. No cat and mouse. No twisty moral situation to make you sympathize with Arkin or the other characters. Fully lit, revealing just how cheap everything is. Whoever they replaced The Collector with, is very short, kinda puffy, and non-intimidating. Ungh, I don't want to spoil anything, but The Collector is no longer the cat-eyed boogeyman, but reduced to 'some guy' that has a house full of traps...and for some reason he can go hand to hand with an entire squad of mercs in a knife fight...cause that's his style. He will definitely MMA you to death.

In addition to this, a kinda major plot-point (read: contrivance) surrounds something ripped from People Under the Stairs, but gets disregarded whenever the plot decides we need a brawl, but immediately returns to importance afterwards when the audience asks, "Wait...why can't they leave? They were just down there!"

The final escape is the result of doing the EXACT THING that was 'impossible' due to 'plot device'...and 'plot device' wasn't there. Nor did anyone address this course of action even though it was the ENTIRE REASON they were trapped to begin with.

The finale is Arkin duking it out with The Collector in some sort of ill-conceived wrestlemania grudgematch.

The Collection is really really bad, ironically...everyone loves it? I recommend watching it, just to compare the disparity of it's reception.

"Does everything right, that the original did wrong." I think is

[–] davonjohnson9212 11 years ago

Yeah, love your analysis and really wish the writers would have done your idea haha.

The Collection left me in grave disappointment. I felt like I was watching another movie.

[–] minhas4 12 years ago

I really enjoyed this movie too and was taken back by the negative feelings on IMDb. It started to make me wonder if I was overrating it.

Your post reminded me why it was so awesome.

Yeah, the movie had flaws (the ending was a little ridiculous) but most of the criticism here is unfair. We can't all be ninjas like you guys and take out The Collector with ease!

[–] jojove3 12 years ago

Nice! An intelligent and well thought out positive review!! So refreshing and RARE for this genre!!

Kiss my grits!

[–] RomeoKnight 12 years ago

It was a good movie and definitely worth seeing (if one likes torture porn). No but seriously, a well made film but a bit too gruesome to me. Same level as the saw movies which are also very nasty but somehow I still watch them.