A torture thriller is rarely ever done right. When it is, we get ‘Saw’ but when it isn’t, we get trash like ‘Captivity’ and numerous other rip-offs. So what can you expect when the writers of the last three Saw films have their own low-budget thriller in theaters? Well, it’s no Saw for sure, but Marc Dunstan and Patrick Melton’s ‘The Collector’ is a tense, nasty and gripping thriller that will surely satisfy its core audience.

The setup is very intriguing – a down with luck robber Arkin decides to enter a mansion to steal jewels from the safe at night when the family is away for vacations. But when he is inside, he hears mysterious sounds. Is there anyone else in the house? Unfortunately for Arkin, there is. A sadistic killer known as ‘The Collector’ is holding the family hostage and has rigged the whole mansion with deadly booby traps that ensure that no one gets out of the house alive.

The moment one reads the word ‘traps’ and knowing the history of the writers and director, comparisons to the Saw series are inevitable. But it’s safe to say that ‘The Collector’ is not a cheap rip-off of ‘Saw’ and actually holds up as a tense thriller on its own. Although the project was originally envisioned as a Saw prequel, the writers quickly rewrote it as an individual project when that was scrapped. Unlike ‘Saw’ where the focus is on a group of people trying to figure out how to escape from their traps before they die, ‘The Collector’ focuses solely on the character of Arkin and his goal to escape from the mansion as soon as possible. It’s the deadly traps that make it impossible for him.

One word of caution: the film is definitely not for the faint of heart. Even though it applies a lot of restraint on the amount of gore it shows on screen (unlike the recent Saw flicks), the traps are indeed nasty and at times downright disturbing. What we don’t see is much more frightening, and this is something that director Marc Dunstan understands. Unlike the Saw films where the leads are stupid and die one by one, Arkin is a smart lead that continually challenges the villain in a deadly game of cat and mouse (the hostage family still take stupid decisions, though). As for the villain himself, effort has been made to make it unique thanks to a creepy mask and stealthy movements however without a clear motive or backstory, he still ends up like any other horror villain from countless other home invasion movies.

The setting of a dark mansion allows for a lot of thrills and here’s where ‘The Collector’ shines. The traps set up are most of the time astoundingly simple yet lethal (bear traps, needles, hooks and nails) and creates a deadly atmosphere where a simple wrong step can take one’s life. Arkin is also faced with a number of moral decisions where his need to escape is constantly in conflict with saving the lives of the hostage family and that provides for a lot of emotional content which is unexpected from such a film. The matching of wits between the killer and the victims provides the best scenes in the film with the killer finding smart ways to always come on top.

If there’s one thing that’s common with the Saw films, it’s the bleakness. This is not your mainstream horror film where every plot point can be seen coming from a mile away. Just like Saw, characters that you least expect get killed in surprising ways and that brings me to the film’s ending. There’s no huge twist ending like the Saw films, but there is a nasty and disturbing turn that the film takes in its final moments which although fits the tone of the film, it might leave audiences unsatisfied. Another similarity? There’s plenty of room left for sequels here.

Josh Stewart plays Arkin in a sympathetic manner which allows audiences to empathize with him even though his intentions were to rob the house. He also has an uncanny resemblance to a young Sean Penn. The rest of the cast does a good job but nothing is really standout. The film has a lot of dark scenes that are handled well despite the low budget by Marc Dunstan whose gritty handheld shooting style is markedly different from the frenetic editing in the Saw films.

In the end, ‘The Collector’ is much more effective as a brutal home invasion thriller than a torture fest no matter what the film’s marketing department may try to sell it as. Lack of any sort of motivation for the villain means that the film does not reach the heights of the first Saw film, but it’s better than Saw VI and V combined. I’m surprised this independent film is getting a theatrical release here soif you’re a fan of intense horror, go check this one out with an open mind.

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