Common Sense Media Review
By James Rocchi
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Grisly horror film is smothered in blood and gore.
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The Collector
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 13 parent reviews
Parents say the film is highly inappropriate for children due to its graphic violence, nudity, and strong language, making it suitable only for adult audiences with a strong mentality. While some viewers praise its unsettling and thrilling elements, many express dissatisfaction with the excessive gore and predictability, resulting in mixed opinions about its overall quality.
- inappropriate for children
- graphic violence
- adult audience only
- mixed reviews
- thrilling elements
- excessive gore
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 14 kid reviews
What's the Story?
Desperate to bail his lover out of dire financial straits, a "contractor" -- really a thief who's been casing the home of a jewel broker -- enters the home he's been working on to rob the safe. But after gaining entrance, he discovers that the home -- and its occupants -- are under the control of a masked killer who has a flair for low-tech but ingenious deathtraps. Can our "hero" save himself and the family he was going to rob from the terrifying, grim evil of ... THE COLLECTOR?
Is It Any Good?
Written by the scribes behind Saw IV, V, and VI -- a fairly grisly resume no matter how you look at it -- The Collector has much in common with that series. There's a killer with a diabolical capacity for traps and tricks, a focus on gore, and even a quiet stress on morality, since the hero has to decide whether making the score and surviving are more important than saving the family he was going to rob.
But The Collector's grim, greasy sadism will make it hard for anyone who isn't a fan of extreme horror to enjoy ... and anyone who is a fan of extreme horror has seen many of The Collector's moments played out before in better films with better actors. While The Collector is certainly inventive enough in how it presents grisly murder, it's not interesting enough in its characters or scripting to make the moments between those bloody triumphs of effects and make-up matter.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the film mixes sex and violence. Why does that happen so frequently in horror movies? Is it just part of the "fun" of the genre, or does it objectify women?
Why do you think the character of the serial killer with elaborate plans has become popular in recent years? Is it the cultural influence of movies like Saw, The Silence of the Lambs, and Seven? Or does it go deeper than that?
Movie Details
- In theaters : July 31, 2009
- On DVD or streaming : April 6, 2010
- Cast : Andrea Roth , Josh Stewart , Madeline Zima
- Director : Marcus Dunstan
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Freestyle Releasing
- Genre : Horror
- Run time : 88 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : pervasive sadistic bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity
- Last updated : September 6, 2022
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