The Collection (2012)

Since The Collector (2009) is one of my favorite horror movies, The Collection (2012) had to be a step down. And it is. Even though the movie is directed and written by the same guys as The Collector was, the movie takes a completely different approach than the first one.

Arkin escapes with his life from the vicious grips of "The Collector" during an entrapment party where he adds beautiful Elena to his "Collection." Instead of recovering from the trauma, Arkin is suddenly abducted from the hospital by mercenaries hired by Elena's wealthy father. Arkin is blackmailed to team up with the mercenaries and track down The Collector's booby trapped warehouse and save Elena.

The reason The Collector (2009) was so powerfull was because they kept it simple. There was a small cast, one small setting and nailbiting suspense. In The Collection (2012) they swept away the simpleness and went for bigger and more explosive. Along with Larkin half a dozen of mercenaries are sent along inside the hideout of the collector. The movie's setting changed from a house to a huge abandoned hotel. Unfortunately this kills most of the terrific atmosphere the first movie had. In The Collector (2009) there was an ongoing suspense because the killer and Larkin were in the same, small, house and could stumble upon each other every second. In the Collection though the hotel is so big that you can easily make sounds and scream for help without anyone on the other side of the hotel noticing. A real shame, because gone is the claustrophobic vibe of the first movie.


That doesn't mean that there is no excitement and tension in this movie though. The scene where the group stumbles upon the collector's drugged up human watchdogs is very creepy for example. Apart from that there are some nice jump scares and the gore, while more over the top than in the first movie, does its thing. Josh Stewart fortunately returned as Larkin and the rest of the cast does a decent job as well. 

The Collection turned out to be a step back in quality from the first one, but that was to be expected. That doesn't take away that it's still a pretty awesome horror movie. There is gore, tension and some creepyness here and there. Due to the bigger, more actionpacked, approach, the real suspense the first movie had is mainly gone though. You can compare it with the Saw franchise. The first movie was simple yet terrifying, whereas the follow-ups were bigger, more gorry and more explosive yet still entertaining.

Fun Fact (Source: IMDB)

The "Hotel Argento" where the Collector has his victims is a nod to the cult Italian horror director Dario Argento.