Here's a sequel to THE COLLECTOR and I was really looking forward to it. The original film was an awesome hybrid of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and SAW and here they up the ante...perhaps too much. Eschewing the dark, claustrophobic tone of the original in favor of a pumped-up steroid follow-up (think ALIENS compared to ALIEN), it ultimately just doesn't work. This time, a group of teens at a rave party warehouse get trapped and killed by our maniac's elaborate scheme and he kidnaps a final victim (Emma Fitzpatrick) to release later, as is he did in the original film. The rave warehouse scene is like an amped up SAW trap with this huge grinder coming down and chopping up everyone on the dance floor. Definitely not the subtle realism of the original and the CGI blood and gore give the scenario a cartoon-ish flare. For this viewer, all that was missing was Roadrunner and Will E. Coyote racing through the scene. The male survivor from the original SAW...er, COLLECTOR gets away in the process and he's taken to the hospital...where this renegade band of Marines...er...Expendables...have been hired to find the missing girl and bring her back. Turns out her father is a rich politician and has the funds to do this. So the renegade group tracks the Collector down to his lair and tries to rescue the politician's daughter. Of course, the survivor from the first film warns the group that "they don't know who they're dealing with" and they are predictably picked off one by one as they make their way through a maze of freakish, lobotomized, zombified victims that the Collector is creating and harvesting. There's not too much suspense generated in these scenes but there are many more gruesome traps and surprises that do keep you watching. Those that remain in the group do rescue the politician's daughter and another girl, but the Collector is right behind them and an explosive finale is inevitable. Bigger, badder, and sillier than the original, THE COLLECTION has some good moments but was very disappointing compared to the quiet home invasion atmosphere of the original. Fortunately, this movie is mercifully short, clocking in at merely 70 minutes or so before we fade out and get twelve minutes of end credits, complete with many of the showstopping sequences shown AGAIN before an actor is freeze-framed with their credit! Talk about thin material and a flimsy script, adding in the opening credits there was only about 66 minutes of new material here! The ending also didn't make much sense and borrowed liberally from HOSTEL 2's opening...I guess there could be a third entry if this is an intended franchise, but...not holding my breath for the next episode!
Here's a sequel to THE COLLECTOR and I was really looking forward to it. The original film was an awesome hybrid of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and SAW and here they up the ante...perhaps too much. Eschewing the dark, claustrophobic tone of the original in favor of a pumped-up steroid follow-up (think ALIENS compared to ALIEN), it ultimately just doesn't work. This time, a group of teens at a rave party warehouse get trapped and killed by our maniac's elaborate scheme and he kidnaps a final victim (Emma Fitzpatrick) to release later, as is he did in the original film. The rave warehouse scene is like an amped up SAW trap with this huge grinder coming down and chopping up everyone on the dance floor. Definitely not the subtle realism of the original and the CGI blood and gore give the scenario a cartoon-ish flare. For this viewer, all that was missing was Roadrunner and Will E. Coyote racing through the scene. The male survivor from the original SAW...er, COLLECTOR gets away in the process and he's taken to the hospital...where this renegade band of Marines...er...Expendables...have been hired to find the missing girl and bring her back. Turns out her father is a rich politician and has the funds to do this. So the renegade group tracks the Collector down to his lair and tries to rescue the politician's daughter. Of course, the survivor from the first film warns the group that "they don't know who they're dealing with" and they are predictably picked off one by one as they make their way through a maze of freakish, lobotomized, zombified victims that the Collector is creating and harvesting. There's not too much suspense generated in these scenes but there are many more gruesome traps and surprises that do keep you watching. Those that remain in the group do rescue the politician's daughter and another girl, but the Collector is right behind them and an explosive finale is inevitable. Bigger, badder, and sillier than the original, THE COLLECTION has some good moments but was very disappointing compared to the quiet home invasion atmosphere of the original. Fortunately, this movie is mercifully short, clocking in at merely 70 minutes or so before we fade out and get twelve minutes of end credits, complete with many of the showstopping sequences shown AGAIN before an actor is freeze-framed with their credit! Talk about thin material and a flimsy script, adding in the opening credits there was only about 66 minutes of new material here! The ending also didn't make much sense and borrowed liberally from HOSTEL 2's opening...I guess there could be a third entry if this is an intended franchise, but...not holding my breath for the next episode!
