I honestly don’t know what I would rate “The Collector” (2009).  I know it’s an effective horror movie, because it’s frightening and disturbing.  It was good and scary — especially when imperiled children come into play.  But there are some levels of gore and violence against innocents that are too much even for a horror fan like me.

 

I kept turning it off.  It was just too much.  And if you know my taste in movies, that’s saying a lot.

 

A glance at the imdb.com message boards shows that this movie is widely reviled.  I don’t think that this film is quite as bad as many make it out to be.

 

There are hints of real creativity here — there is a ton of character development, mood setting, and story.  You can tell that the screenwriters tried hard to present us with something different, and create something more than a standard slasher flick.

 

Some of this pays off.  We’ve got a pretty interesting anti-hero as a leading man — a burglar who wants to steal from a wealthy family, but who is yet noble enough to defend their lives from a brutal serial killer.  This role is excellently portrayed by Josh Stewart.  I like this guy.  He’s good actor.  I liked him as Bane’s creepy second-in-command in “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).  He made a great bad guy in that movie, and he deserves to play the lead bad guy in a decent thriller.

 

There is a really nice little trick employed by the filmmakers too — contrasting the horrible violence with a dreamy, soft alt-rock soundtrack. Any movie that features Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” can’t be all bad.

 

This movie suffers, however, from the flaws that so many people point out. It’s confusing.  The sets are dark; the action is muddled at times.  Certain things happen for apparently no reason.  (One character fires a shotgun at another at very close range and misses.) 

 

The title antagonist’s motives are only hinted at.  “HE COLLECTS PEOPLE!” one victim screams.  And his modus operandi seems confusing.  How does he have time to set up all these booby traps in the homes he invades?  Why bother, if his victims there are already captured?  Why not just snatch people and leave?   Was he expecting Josh Stewart’s character to intervene?

 

At any rate, if you do watch this film, you’d better have a strong stomach.