"The Collector" Review - Written by Anthony T

The Collector
Year: 2009
Director: Marcus Dunstan
Studio: Freestyle Releasing
Stars: Josh Stewart, Michael Reilly Burke, Andrea Roth
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 88 Mins.
Official Website: http://www.thecollector-movie.com/




2009 will be known in horror genre, as the year of the independent horror film. There have been some great films like “I Sell the Dead”, “Martyrs”, “Laid To Rest”, “The Burrowers”, and “Rec”. Now, you can add “The Collector” to the list.

The film is about, an ex-con, who is working as a handyman for a jewelry broker and his family. Unknown to the family, he’s planning to rob them into order to repay his ex-wife debt. His robbery is going to plan, until he hears screams in the house. Unfortunately, there’s also another person, who has also laid claim to the house. That person carries around with him an old trunk and wears a mask. As the ex-con tries to leave the house, he finds out that the masked man has set up booby traps around the house that makes it impossible for him to escape. Now he faced with a dilemma, escape and flee the scene or try to save the family and stop this demented madman, known as “The Collector”.

Going into “The Collector, I had two question going into this film. Is this the film that redeems Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, for the mess that was known as “Saw V”, and can a writer actually direct a descent film, considering it’s becoming the latest trend. The answer to both questions is yes.

This film is an intense and frightening film, from start to finish. Marcus Dunstan really has an eye for direction and the horror genre, in general. His direction here felt some odf David Fincher’s earlier films, with the graphic imagery, the intense tone and the Nine Inch Nails like soundtrack. Dunstan also does a very good job not making this film feel like a “Saw” film, even though this could have been easily been one. The reason for that, Dunstan doesn’t try to redo “Saw” all over again, as he allows his villain to be creepy in the way that he moves, like Michael Myers in the original Halloween. By doing that, it makes you fear the villain. The death scenes were directed very well, as it was more elaborate and quick. It makes the scenes intense and shocking. Dunstan also does a good job directing his actors. The acting here was pretty intense. The reason for that is way the way he makes the performances fit the tone of the film. It was one of those films, where I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, until the end. That’s how an intense movie works.

The screenplay much better than the “Saw V” script, which Dunstan co-wrote with his writing partner Patrick Melton. The Collector is their latest screenplay and it’s better project that showcases their talents, as writers. One of the things that they did right here was to make the tone of the story, intense as possible. That was one of the things that were lacking in “Saw V” The reason for that is the characters were more likeable here. That was a big difference. The writers do a good job spending the first twenty minutes giving backstory to these characters. It really helped me get into the story, considering the start of the film was intense and could have gone another and disastrous direction. Instead, by giving background to these characters, it made me invested in everything that went on. It also adds a level of interest to the story. They also did a very good job in not making the villain of the film come off, as a Jigsaw clone. They did that, by not giving the villain any dialogue and making him very mysterious to the point that you want to know more about his character, if a sequel ever happens. The villain was truly terrifying, as he had that Michael Myers feel to him. That’s how a horror monster can be scary.

This film definitely Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton’s best screenplay to date. “The Collector” is defiantly a horror film that you should seek out, if you truly love an intense and horrifying film that will leave you scared.

Review Rating: Five Stars