The Collection (2012)

The Collection - A Fun Trailer!

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

(Liked It) 

Netflix Synopsis: After escaping the dungeon of a serial killer, a man is forced to return to a house of horrors to help save a woman now in the killer's clutches.*

The Peeps:  Marcus Dunstan (co-writer, director); Patrick Melton (co-writer); Josh Stewart, Emma Fitzpatrick, Lee Tergesen

Quick Run Down: So Many Writer's Privileges, Atmospheric, Gore Gore Gore

Worth the Watch: Yeah!

Three friends are on their way to a secret party, where a slew of less-than-25-year-olds (seriously - past that, we gotta work) are chugging booze and dancing half naked to bass heavy music pumped out by a hot DJ.  Unbeknownst to all involved, though, there's a guest at the party that wasn't on the list, and he's more lethal than any drug or amount of alcohol being ingested.  In fact, he's a sadistic killer!  But the killer leaves the party with a victim - Emma - that has connections, and those connections want to bring her home.  So enters Arkin, our lead, who's one of the only people that has managed to escape the killer and is now being commissioned to help a team find Emma.  Their hunt leads them into a chamber of horror and carnage they've never seen the likes of before!  

The Collection picks up an unknown but presumably short amount of time after its predecessor, The Collector, a title eponymous of the main character - a beady-eyed and black-masked serial killer that's part extremo-sadist, part Einstein/Tesla mastermind.  The first film (only available on DVD through Netflix) was a clever, atmospheric slasher taking place in mostly one location with minimal actors and a bunch of trap and gadget scenarios reminiscent of Saw (Dunstan and Melton wrote the last 4 installments of this franchise; they are also responsible for the scripts of the Feast trilogy).  It wasn't great, but it was fun, well-done, and a nice breath of fresh air from all the bad too-smart-to-be-stopped serial killer flicks spawned by the original Saw.  It's ultimate success led to an inevitable sequel too, and thus we have The Collection, a movie that proves that a bad script can work if there are other elements that are really strong.

Alright, maybe the script isn't that bad.  There's a cohesive plot, a basic narrative, and characters that are stock but solid.  Still, this movie has a LOT of writer's privileges.  If you watch this film and you're a person that needs your fingers to count, you'll have to take off your shoes to tally up the number of times you'll say, "Well, that wouldn't happen" or "Yeah, right".  Just tons of unbelievable stuff going on here; yet, there are enough one-liners (some dubbed after the fact) to keep the viewer from thinking the things happening are too ridiculous. I know it's a horror movie, but there has to be some kind of credibility or the audience stops giving a damn.  The Collection comes so close to that but manages to stop just before going to far, the tips of its shoes hanging precariously over the edge. Based on the editing, it looks like the script probably had a lot more in it, but Dunstan (director) decided to cut out a lot that either didn't work, didn't come out well, or did in fact push the flick over the aforementioned cliff. This should hurt the film, but, actually, it doesn't.  There are a lot of other things going on that are really fun to watch.  The acting is good, with Josh Stewart (Arkin) reprising his punk thief role adequately and Emma Fitzpatrick (Elena) an expressive, beautiful face in a crowd of tough men and ravaged bodies.  I have a soft spot for Lee Tergesen, so I think he's great, even though he doesn't really do much here.  Melton and Dunstan try to throw in some little jokes and quips, but they don't work as the dialogue is mostly unnecessary throughout the film.  What really keeps the film going is the production design, cinematography, and special effects.  The rooms in the movie are cast in deep blue, green, or red or the opposite - bright florescent, making things eerie and uncomfortable because of strange colors and lack of vision or so visible that there's nowhere to hid, both instances keeping tension stapled to the viewer.  Marry this with some bizarre production design ideas like fly zappers, jars of bugs or miscellaneous body parts, plus general carnage, and you've got a sadistically effective couple.  The final touch though, the priest making this unholy union complete, is the special effects.  Gary Tunnicliffe is responsible for the body parts and gore gore gore in The Collection, and he outdoes himself.  There's SO much to look at, from scattered limbs to eviscerated corpses to simple bone breaks to arterial spray.  It's all done really well and shows Tunnicliffe is at the top of his game. He's done make-up for a crap load of movies - a couple of Hellraiser's, Mission Impossible II, Feast, Scary Movie 5, so his range is unprecedented.  He doesn't seem to be slowing down, either, as he just finished the effects for Fincher's new one, Gone Girl.  So, some impressive stuff from him and a big highlight for The Collection.  I can't wait to see what his next horror movie stuff looks like.

All said and done, if you wanna watch a movie that lacks in script but has some bad-ass special effects, creepy settings, and a lot of general gore, check out The Collection.  It's an above average slasher flick that I think you'll enjoy.  You know where to find it - Netflix!

This is what happens when you have too much
Tunnicliffe at a party.

"I can't believe your dad let you out of the house with that psycho on the loose." - really?

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