‘The Collection’ Review
Stars: Josh Stewart, Emma Fitzpatrick, Christopher McDonald, Lee Tergesen, Tim Griffin, Andre Royo, Randall Archer, Shannon Kane | Written by Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan | Directed by Marcus Dunstan
Originally conceived as a prequel to the long-running Saw movies and penned by Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan, the writing duo behind Saw’s 4 through 7 (and the awesome Feast trilogy), 2009’s fan-favourite The Collector finally gets it’s very own sequel in The Collection, picking up almost exactly where the first film left off.
Having previously been re-captured at the end of the original film, The Collection sees Arkin (Stewart) escape with his life from the vicious grips of The Collector during an entrapment party that sees hundreds killed and Elena (Fitzpatrick), a young partially deaf girl, imprisoned and abducted. Recovering from his ordeal in hospital, Arkin is once again abducted – but not by the evil Collector but by mercenaries hired by Elena’s wealthy father to track The Collector down and rescue Elena whatever the cost, even if that means blackmailing Arkin into re-entering The Collector’s evil lair…
The Collection starts as it means to go one, with more gore in the first thirteen minutes than in the original film combined – with bodies mangled, squashed and sliced in spectacular fashion! And the gore doesn’t stop there as, much like it’s Saw brethren, the film ups the ante on what has come before – trust me, if you’re a gore-hound, your hunger will definitely be satiated by this flick. It’s obvious that Melton and Dunstan have gone for the “bigger is better” ethos for The Collection. Bigger and badder booby traps, higher body count and more tension – this is The Collector turned up to eleven!
Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan are well-versed in the tropes of horror, especially those of the “trap” variety and with The Collection they have seemingly let their imagination run wild. So much so in fact, that even the audience can’t predict what grotesque and macabre things are in store for this cast of characters and when the violence does come, director Marcus Dunstan shoots it in such a frenzied manner that is as unexpected and disorientating for the audience as it is for the cast.
With great acting from the central cast, a great concept and some real edge of your seat moments of tension, The Collection is a fun-filled terror ride that is a worthy successor to the original. Here’s hoping the films superb epilogue means we will eventually get a third film…
The Collection is released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 29th, courtesy of eOne.
***** 5/5