Movie Review: The Collection

Way back in 2009 I wrote about a little horror movie called The Collector. It was a terrible piece of trash. I recall saying ow bad it was, how illogical it was, how annoying it was, but how decent the gore effects were. I felt like a collection of leftover Saw traps, which makes sense since it came from the guys who made a few of the latter sequels. Anyway, somebody must have made a couple of bucks it as we are now faced with its sequel, The Collection.



Believe me when I tell you that it is every bit as bad as its predecessor. Pretty much the only redeeming thing it has is the blood and gore, the effects are pretty well done. Now, I certainly can see the appeal of the idea, but the writing and execution is so poor as to boggle the mind. I am more than willing to suppress my disbelief but this one, well, I just couldn't do it.

The bad guy makes no sense, no explanations are offered, there are issues of logistics, timing, character, motivation, and space. For example, early on, a trap is sprung that essentially lowers a gigantic thresher into a crowd at a dance club, killing ear everyone. This is set into motion by our heroine, Elaina (Emma Fitzpatrick), discovering a man in a box, Arkin (Josh Stewart) the survivor of the first film. Anyway, the blades come down and leave a bloody mess in its wake. Now, who built this club and the contraption? Clearly it is more than a one man job and something that would be difficult to hide. I guess the purpose was to free Arkin and collect a new victim.

Before Arkin can enjoy his newfound freedom, he is approached by the, I guess, bodyguard of Elaina's father (Christopher Macdonald) with a proposition. Help them find the killer or... well, or else. It certainly helps that the low level criminal marked his body to account for distances and turns when he was first kidnapped. How very fortunate.

Anyway, Arkin and some guys with guns find the killers lair, an old hotel. They go inside and face all sorts of traps and disfigured victims. I have no idea where they were going or how they knew where to go or how one room related to the rest in space. It was a free for all with the masked killer wandering around aiding the mayhem.

This movie is just really bad. There is no way around it. The characters are thin and I did not care about any of them. The killer is a neat mask and nothing else. The traps are a logistical nightmare. My mind is going blank as I replay parts in my head. It is like they went for the hero shot whenever they could, just think of the shot where the wall opens and killer is there with a gun, a couple of dogs while being backlit through a haze of smoke.

I don't know what else to say about this thing. It is a mess of logic with no one to care about. Sure, it was nice seeing some blood, but this thing makes Saw seem like Citizen Kane. For that matter, this movie is pretty much Saw but without the questionable morality. The Saw movies are equally ridiculous, but there was a touch of ambition behind them, this has none of that, take some traps, some blood, some hollow characters and let the parts fly.

Pass.

Not Recommended.