The Collector Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

The Collector Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 15, 2023

Why isn't there someone in Hollywood, working high up the chain in Blu-ray distribution, who stops meetings, dead center, to say, "we're about to release The Collector in high definition." Followed by, "so call the wives, call the husbands, tell 'em we're working late, cause we can't release a movie called The Collector without producing a proper Collector's Edition." Some of the room groans; they have kids who have been missing their bedtime stories. Others in the room cheer; they who love cheap wordplay and thin high definition-themed puns. But all crack their knuckles and prepare to create a Collector's Edition to rule all Collector's Editions. But then that Blu-ray bigwig hushes his underlings (it takes a few tries, they're just so excited) and asks, "wait, is The Collector a good horror flick?" And Phil... God, always that idiot Phil answers, "I'm not sure, boss, but I know it's a film from the writers of Saw IV, V and VI!"

And that, kids, is the story of how the The Collector made its return to Blu-ray without any special features.

Ex-con turned handyman Arkin (Josh Stewart) aims to repay a debt to his ex-wife by robbing his new employer's country home. Unfortunately for Arkin, a far worse enemy has already laid claim to the property... and the family. As the seconds tick down to midnight, Arkin becomes a reluctant hero trapped by a masked "Collector" in a maze of lethal invention -- the Inquisition as imagined by Rube Goldberg -- while trying to rescue the very family he came to rob. Directed by Marcus Dunstan and written by Dunstan and Patrick Melton, the film also stars Madeline Zima, Andrea Roth, Daniella Alonso, Juan Fernández and Diane Ayala Goldner.

From Jeffrey Kauffman's 2010 review of The Collector's first Blu-ray release, distributed by Vivendi Visual Entertainment: Saw popularized these torture-fests masquerading as film, and indeed this film in its original incarnation as The Midnight Man was evidently pitched as a prequel to that franchise, but by this time even the less jaded members of the audience are so numb to the scenes of cutting, slicing and dicing that it gets harder and harder to elicit a reaction. What we’re left with is a routine slasher flick with absolutely no emotional resonance, and pitifully little to recommend it to anyone other than sadists who get off on watching people die slow, agonizing deaths.

Director Marcus Dunstan knows his stuff, at least as far as this idiom’s shallow ambitions and narrow focus go, staging the chaos with some appealing savoir faire, including some inventive overhead shots that give us simultaneous views of both cat and mouse in a desperate game of hide and seek (and kill). On an emotional level, there’s simply nothing here, despite rather lame attempts to humanize Arkin as a loving father and basically decent guy, despite being a jewel thief and schemer. In fact the dichotomous approach toward this putative hero is one of the stranger decisions made in this film, as it casts the person the audience should be rooting for in a decidedly less than favorable light. I assume we’re supposed to think these rich country folk deserve to be robbed since the wife names her wrinkles after her eldest daughter before Botoxing them into oblivion, but it all rings hollow, leaving nothing to anchor the film in other than blood and guts. Is that really enough? Evidently so for a certain segment of the audience, which has made the Saw franchise, if not this film, a rousing box office success.

Ultimately the film is defeated by its own improbability, which is ironically coupled with about every slasher cliché you’ve ever seen. First of all, what exactly are “the collector”’s motives, and how, really, do his boxed people act, as one of the hapless souls screams three quarters of the way through the flick, as “bait”? Though his identity is more or less revealed toward the end of the film, and is supposedly extremely ironic in a post-hip way, there’s absolutely no reason given for his actions, whether it’s the torturing or, in fact, the collecting itself. And as anyone who knows how these films go can predict, the “final showdown” is really only a prelude to the “final, final showdown” which erupts out of nowhere in a silly way with, again, absolutely no explanation. I don’t want to give too much away for those of you who actually want to see the film, but how exactly does the ambulance crash? Is there a hidden guy wire on the road as well as every room in the house Arkin has managed to make it out of? It’s frankly ridiculous. The Collector is a routine slice ‘em, dice ‘em outing that will certainly make most audiences gasp in horror, but not for the right reasons. The real horror is that films this desperate continue to get made at all.

The Collector Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Collector must have studied at the Michael Bay School of Platinum Dunes Color Grading, because unintentionally or no, the film's visuals share an uncanny resemblance to Dunes's contrast-seared stylings. It suits the tone of the film just fine, as does the heavy, often serrated grain field that screams atop the image. I don't mind grain at all but in extreme close-ups, with such hot contrast leveling, and with the varying black levels of the film's lower budget digital photography, it can come on strong. Otherwise there's little to complain about. Detail is quite good, though hard to accurately capture in every screenshot. In motion, the film features refined textures and sharp edges, even when things are hard to see because darkness is such a key component of the visuals. Delineation is tougher on things hidden in the shadows, and skintones are rarely lifelike, being beholden to the stark blues and sickly yellows of the palette. That said, the presentation really pops, much as you might sometimes wish the gory imagery didn't. Better still, I didn't notice any banding, blocking or other anomalies, other than the crushing you'd expect in high white and low black areas of the picture. (Again, blame the source photography, not Cinedigm's transfer.)

The Collector Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While familiarizing myself a bit with Jeff's review of the Vivendi Blu-ray edition, I came across this gem of a forum post, circa 2010 when The Collector's BD earned a special rental premiere prior to its wide release: "Rented this at Block Buster yesterday, watched it last night, pretty cool slasher movie, I liked it alot. Gross as hell. And yes, it's in DTS-HD Master audio. The surrounds are really active... and really intense. I can't wait to add it to my collection." Jeff later awarded what he called a "robust" 5.1 audio mix with "stupendous sonic design" 4.5 out of 5, and Jeff might just have the best ear of all of us. I don't have the 2010 release to compare, but I strongly suspect Cinedigm's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is a very similar track, if not an exact duplicate.

The rear speakers boast an uncharacteristically layered and assertive series of elements, both subtle and aggressive, elevating the film's overly complex Rube Goldbergian kill traps with a bustling soundfield of clicks, whirs and thunks, the latter of which is given plenty of weight by the equally involving LFE output. Weight and power grant scenes everything from low-rumbling tension to heavy, chest-thumping thooms, making The Collector sound like far more of a horror classic than it really is. Channel pans are devious and playful in their smoothness, jump scares can be felt not just experienced, and directionality is precision-crafted to create a genuinely immersive soundfield. Dialogue also remains crystal clear, naturally grounded and cinematically centered, and well-prioritized in the mix, even when chaos ensues and music, effects, screams and whispers crash into one another and spill over top; each remains in its proper place, at its proper loudness, without turning into a jumbled mess. I gotta say I didn't expect an AV package this strong.

The Collector Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 2011 Vivendi Visual Entertainment Blu-ray release of The Collector was far more of a Collector's Edition than what we find here, courtesy (or discourteously) of Cinedigm. While the Vivendi release featured an audio commentary Dunstan and Melton, three deleted scenes, a music video and the film's trailer, Cinedigm's 2023 edition is barebones, sans any extras. Considering The Collector actually has its share of fans -- guilty pleasure apologists or legitimate fanatics -- I'm surprised, even disappointed. Oh well, the cover art certainly looks the part, and I suppose that counts for something.

The Collector Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Collector never has and probably never will take the horror scene by storm. But many a genre hound consider it to be underrated and worth a watch. I'd rather spend my time elsewhere. You? Mileage varies (in spite of its clear penchant for Saw-like methods and mechanics), so decide accordingly. Cinedigm's Blu-ray release isn't quite as appealing as the 2010 out-of-print Vivendi Visual Entertainment release, simply because the latter includes a number of special features absent from the 2023 version. Fortunately, it appears to boast the same excellent AV presentation as its predecessor. If you dig the flick, don't care about extras and have yet to add it to a copy of The Collector to your collection, no need to stalk down an OOP edition on eBay or Amazon. Cinedigm's reissue should suffice.