Saw writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton showed with
2009's The Collector that they had
the capacity to create their own interesting, if a little familiar, horror
franchise with inventive visuals and nasty violence. Now in 2012, they are back looking to up the ante with a
sequel called The Collection that
expands the mythology of the titular character while also putting more silly
characters through the ringer with brutal, violent traps in order to determine
who's worthy of being added to his ever growing "collection". The film abandons the creepy, thrilling
cat and mouse style from the first in favor of more action and gore heavy
approach.
Our lone survivor from the first film, Arkin (Josh Roberts),
escapes an elaborate and expertly staged opening sequence featuring the most
nightclub violence you are likely to see anytime soon. Before he can fully recover he's
enlisted by a rich fellow whose daughter has been kidnapped. Naturally since Arkin is the only one
to have survived The Collector's clutches, he and a crack team of bodyguards
are her only hope. The traps are
moved from a creepy house to a stereotypical abandoned warehouse location
reflecting the more mainstream and predictable approach this entry is going
for.
That's the main problem here, it's a sequel plot explored in
much better movies, think [REC] 2 and,
oddly enough, Aliens. By making the movie more about the
group of mercenaries than a terrorizing, clever bad guy it becomes more action
heavy thus losing any sort of tension it might happen to build along the way.
The action sequences are often poorly staged with clumsy editing guiding the
almost too quick pace. What the
movie lacks in coherency it makes up for by being one of the nastiest, bloodiest
films in recent memory. Everything
from old school blood baths to intricate traps designed to maim with maximum
carnage will satisfy the thirst of horror fans into that sort of thing.
As predictable and non-threatening as it is, this sequel is
pretty fun for its far too short runtime. Unlike the action oriented scenes,
any scene involving a trap effectively grabs your attention and shocks you with
its deadly result. The acting won't turn any heads but these characters are
here to die not make you cry and many of them do that quite well. It boils down to a simple fact. The
Collector series is far more interesting sticking with the horror roots
rather than haphazardly adding in action just for the hell of it. The
Collection tries to differentiate itself by ramping up the blood and gore
to ridiculous levels for some added fun but ends up falling into its own
predictable trap.
