Day 25

The Collector (2009)

Directed by Marcus Dunstan

When down on his luck ex-con Arkin O’Brien needs money to pay off vicious loan sharks, he decides the only way to get the fast cash he needs is to rob the home of a wealthy family he’s doing construction work for. However, when he arrives that night, he finds that he wasn’t the first one to get there, and finds the house rigged with deadly booby-traps that put not only him at danger but also the family he thought had gone away for the weekend. A bit different from other slasher movies we’ll be covering this week, the booby-trap murder methods are what set The Collector apart from other slasher icons and if you always thought that Home Alone would be way better if it had a hard R-rating well then look no further! The sheer excess of violence in this movie is impressive, and the creativity and cruelty of many of these traps help establish a unique ultra-bleak tone that sets The Collector apart from other slashers.

What makes The Collector work for me is the simple but effective character-work and acting. Everyone feels like a real person with understandable wants and needs and it was such a smart decision to avoid the bad slasher trope of intentionally writing characters you want to see die. Sure, some people here are shitty, but they’re shitty in human ways that feel real and Arkin is one of the better horror protagonists I’ve seen in recent years. He’s made some bad decisions but wants to do the right thing and make up for his mistakes and he has a big heart, which is endearing but also gets him into trouble. It certainly sets him apart from The Collector, who is a great villain, a truly disgusting degenerate with a unique look and interesting end goal. It’s good that The Collector’s backstory isn’t over-explained and they actually manage to keep some mystique to him, which was smart. The Collector isn’t a movie for everyone, it certainly will not win any new converts to the slasher movie genre, but if you are up for something weird, bleak, violent, and fast-paced, The Collector may have what you’re looking for. Recommended.