Review of The Collection (2012) by Shawn D — 23 Dec 2013

Before "The Collection, there was "The Collector", a mostly tight-knit and grounded horror film with a more than interesting plot; a man (Josh Stewart) stealing from a family is caught in the middle of a killer's game of collecting his prey.

Josh Stewart was fun to watch, there were heightened moments of violence and sex, and the entire film was memorable. "The Collection", however, might as well be a completely separate entity, as it shares none of the fascinating qualities of the first film and becomes just another completely forgettable cog in the machine of bad horror films.

With a returning Josh Stewart, his character Arkin is forced back into The Collector's lair by a private task force looking to rescue a wealthy man's daughter. The Collector's warehouse is obviously booby trapped with drug crazed victims on chain leashes and mechanisms far too complicated to understand, and of course the team does no less than walking into every single trap set for them.

What slightly redeems this film is another great turn by Josh Stewart, who makes this sequel his own, adding nicely to the female lead of this film, the short-haired Emma Fitzpatrick. With some interesting scenes mixed throughout including a pretty worthwhile ending of fire and breaking glass, the imagery could have always been worse.

The Collector as a villain is intriguing but we're never privy to anything of interest, and are left to endure the senseless graphic violence that has dominated this genre since the introduction of "Hostel".

With sequences like an entire dance club being demolished by some sort of combine blade and a man's face being impaled by a giant fish hook, one starts to question why we put ourselves through these situations and how a series that started off so well and so simple could become such a sloppy and forgettable mess.