Quite probably the worst film of 2009, "The Collector" (no relation to the great John Fowles novel) is director/co-writer Marcus Dunstan's gratuitous attempt at torture porn after writing the scripts for the fourth and fifth installments of the "Saw" horror franchise.
Arkin (played by Josh Stewart) is a building contractor with his eye on the contents of a safe in the home of a wealthy client. In the interest of paying off a looming debt to his ex-wife, Arkin breaks into the home while the family is away on vacation, only to discover that he has walked into a booby-trapped chamber of horrors.
How it is that a killer installed a complex design of deadly blades on pulleys and gears in the few hours since Arkin last left the house is of little interest to a filmmaker concerned only with abusing his audience with gut wrenching scenes of human suffering and blood spewing violence.
The storytelling on display is beneath remedial. Dunstan clearly didn't get the memo that "torture porn" is so 2007.
The filmmaker's refusal to even bother with a cogent ending shows a contempt for his audience that is unforgivable.
"The Collector" is an open-handed insult to fans of the horror genre.
(Liddell Entertainment) Rated R. 88 mins.
