If we’re going on track records alone, I’m not the kind of person who should be cheerleading THE COLLECTOR. I’m rather indifferent to the first FEAST, but don’t care for the sequels. I stopped being interested in the SAW franchise after part two, which admittedly is before Dunstan and Melton took over subsequent sequels, leaving that less to do with them and more to do with SAW, by act of inheritance, being a fluke worm that behaves the same no matter how many parts you cut up into. Yet it is still impossible to overlook the fact that Dunstan and Melton wrote parts 4 through 7, so the idea of another similarly themed Dunstan/Melton torture team up initially seems capable of being little more than an untrademarked SAW sequel.
It isn’t. THE COLLECTOR may be a lot of things and may feature a house full of traps, but a SAW franchisee it ain’t. Not by a long shot. Dunstan’s directorial debut is a response to needs I’m so accustomed to being disappointed by that I think I’d subconsciously given up hope on finding a film that packages them all together. Finally an American horror movie that is brutal without being a freak show. An American horror movie that is a legitimate throw back to an era gone by without having to yuck it up. An American horror movie that tortures people without devolving into torture porn. An American horror movie made outside of a major studio umbrella that doesn’t give a shit how small its budget may be, that doesn’t have to shortcut tough logistics with insert shots and cutaways.
Yes, THE COLLECTOR is a good horror movie no matter what country it comes from, but that it’s an American horror movie made with a budget that might barely cover craft services on Platinum Dunes production is a great thing to me.
I didn’t realize a trend of calling Green Band trailers Red Band trailers would catch on this quickly, but here we have the first look at Marcus Dunstan’s directorial debut THE COLLECTOR. The flick so far has been shrouded in mystery, but the trailer finally reveals the twist of a burglar who unknowingly breaks into a home whilst it is under siege by Jigsaw’s apprentice (though not really, since that last bit would be problematic with licensing and all).
I’m game for Dunstan keeping their SAW sequel tuned house of traps so long as they lose the SAW franchise trope of spinning the camera like a crack addict on a merry-go-round. I don’t get that impression from the trailer, which looks like a promising time could be had, jagged bear trap packed rooms and all.
THE COLLECTOR opens on July 31st, with a Fantastic Fest/Horror Squad presentation of it on July 22nd in Austin with a Dunstan/Melton Q&A following the premiere.
