The Collection - B-

Rated R, 82 minutes 
   

Josh Stewart and The Collector

Familiar, gory “The Collection” channels “Saw” but still entertains 

I will say I’ve never been a fan of the exceedingly violent “Saw” films, which grew tiresome in the new ways it found to torture people to death. On that note, even I was mildly surprised that I liked the gleefully over-the-top gory new exercise in torture called “The Collection,” actually a sequel to the 2009 cult hit “The Collector,” about a mastermind serial killer who specializes in blood and torture. Horror film fans and fans of “Saw” in particular will thoroughly enjoy what is essentially an extension of that film series. “The Collection” follows a young girl named Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick) who is kidnapped by The Collector and trapped inside an abandoned hotel transformed into a maze that’s filled with deadly traps. Her father (Christopher Macdonald) hires a group of heavily-armed mercenaries to go in and find Elena, and they convince Arkin (Josh Stewart), who somehow survived The Collector’s traps from the first film, to help them. “The Collection” is absurd, sadistic entertainment that’s clearly not for the faint of heart. If all of this seems familiar in a “Saw”-esque way, it’s because “The Collection” is directed by Marcus Dunstan, who helmed the first film and is screenwriter of several of the “Saw” films. Though I am not a fan of those films and of what one of my friends terms “torture porn,” “The Collection,” as implausible and exceedingly bloody as it is, can be mesmerizingly entertaining and enjoyable, particularly in the final act, when it becomes more of a tense cat-and-mouse game than pure bloodbath. Stewart (seen in a small role in “The Dark Knight Rises”), from the first film, returns for more beatings in what could be a steady gig if this film series catches on like the “Saw” series did. The creative booby traps are the highlight and will entertain the many who enjoy this type of thing, just beware this isn’t for those with a weak stomach, as the grisly opening sequence proves. Thankfully, “The Collection” is short (though hardly sweet) and at 82 minutes it moves by quick, with an ending that clearly leaves it open (or closed up in a trunk) for more. 

Wes’s Grade: B-