THE COLLECTOR - Review

THE COLLECTOR 1 HOUR 25 MINUTES. DIRECTED BY MARCUS DUNSTAN.

"The Collector" stars Josh Stewart as Arkin, Michael Reilly Burke and Juan Fernandez as the sadistic Collector. In the film opener, Arkin a handyman and ex-con is working in a jewel broker's wealthy family home doing some handy work in a room. He notices there is a safety box behind a glass mirror. Arkin has shady money issues with a loan sharker, and he better come up with the money or else... Desperately, that night, Arkin breaks into the broker's family home to get to their safe box. Somebody is already inside the house with him, a dark, skinny, homicidal figure with a S/M zipper mask - The Collector. The Collector has turned the beautiful home into a sick setting of booby traps - from acid on the floor, sharp nails on the steps to a chandelier full of glued butcher knives. The tortured, screaming family is trapped inside the house with the killer violently torturing them. Arkin wants what is in the safe box, he wants to save this family, and wants to escape, but everywhere you turned the Killer has put some intelligent sadistic device...

The film starts with some amazing visuals - gray clouds, close ups of arachnids and insects. A great beginning with a techno soundtrack. The look and colors of the film - grainy and grayish, the film capture that 80's horror film look. The sound production was amazing, especially the twenty minute silent scene with Arkin walking around the house trying to find ways out of the home and the killer slowly moving around the house, and all we hear are just steps and creaks - spooky shit. The storyline is an original one, the acting was really good especially Josh Stewart and Juan Fernandez as the killer... BUT the film has its plot holes, tired ending, homophobic lines (shameful), the one cop showing without backup, and another sequel in mind...

1. The Collector somehow loves insects and arachnids... Why? (Plot Hole)

2. Homophobic Line in the film - "You Fucking FAGGOT bitch"... Why? This is getting sickening the word FAGGOT, offending many gays including myself, why the use of this word. With so many, bad nasty words in the bad word encylopedia, why did they have to use homophobic slurs. Michael Dunstan SHAME on you.

3. The one cop showing up without backup, sees the killer and still doesnt call for backup until he is almost getting killed by the killer.

4. The sadistic killer - The Collector looks like he stepped out of Quentin Tarantino's PULP FICTION (The Gimp) to do a starring role here.

5. Another sequel in mind, stupid bad ending to make a new franchise, The Collector is going to be the new Freddy Krueger, Jason, Leatherface, Jigsaw, Michael Myers, etc.,

"The Collector" gets TWO STARS. Michael Dunstan shame on you...

CREEPY KILLER KIDS IN CINEMA

"ORPHAN" was number #4 in the Weekend Box Office making $12,770,000... As a tribute to wicked little Miss Orphan Esther, below is a list of Creepy Killer Kid Films who worked our scares and nerves at moviehouses in the past and present. If you haven't seen them go to your local DVD rental house and rent them.

CREEPY KILLER KID FILMS

THE BAD SEED (1956)
VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960)
THE INNOCENTS (1961)
CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED (1964)
KILL, BABY, KILL (1966)
THE OTHER (1972)
THE EXORCIST (1973)
DEVIL TIMES FIVE (1974)
IT’S ALIVE (1974, 2008)
THE OMEN (1976, 2006)
WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (1976)
CATHY’S CURSE (1977)
BEYOND THE DOOR 2 (1977)
DAMIEN: OMEN 2 (1978)
THE BROOD (1979)
THE VISITOR (1979)
THE GODSEND (1979)
THE CHILDREN (1980)
BLOODY BIRTHDAY (1981)
THE PIT (1981)
CHILDREN OF THE CORN (1983)
FIRESTARTER (1984)
BENNY’S VIDEO (1992)
THE GOOD SON (1993)
INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE (1994)
THE BUTCHER’S BOY (1997)
THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE (2001)
THE RING (2002)
WICKED LITTLE THINGS (2006)
ORPHANAGE (2007)
JOSHUA (2007)
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008)
ORPHAN (2009)

ORPHAN Review

A delightful, sweet family - Kate and John Coleman (played amazingly by the lovely Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard) adopt a nine-year old sweet, angel face Russian girl named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) from a girls orphanage, and what they bring home is nothing angelic, but a ferocious, shady, wicked little ugly motherfucker with an edge to kill... How spooky and kooky is orphan Esther? Well, Esther is dominating and controlling. She wears gothic little house on the prairie outfits, with a black choker around her neck (she is hiding something), she walks around with an old bible with a few pictures of men in it, she loves to sing out loud sweet songs from the privacy of her room, she draws pretty little pictures of animals and her new family, she loves to hear adult conversations, she snoops around (watching her parents pull a dirty love session), she causes pain to herself and to others including her whole family. Her favorite deadly weapons - hammer, gun, butcher knife and a rock... Is Esther really a nine-year old girl or a midget?

A wonderful cast, amazing acting, especially the incredible Vera Farmiga who also was a mother to another killer kid in the scary, horror, thriller JOSHUA (2007) - Also a must see. Vera has been in some great films (Down to The Bone, The Departed, The Boy With the Stripe Pajamas) and her performances are always top notch. The Direction by Jaume Collet-Serra (HOUSE OF WAX) and cinematography is remarkable.

"Orphan" is an amazing, mysterious, bloody, sinful, hellish ride, it will keep you on the edge of your seat - from the nightmarish beginning dream sequence to the last ending frame. One of the best horror films of the year. A MUST SEE. FOUR STARS