The slasher franchise that began its run in back 2009 with the horror hitThe Collectorstill has horror fans talking more than a decade later. Now, after all these years of waiting, a third film in the franchise,The Collected, is finally happening, according to director Marcus Dunstan. The filmmaker is finally able to answer the pleas of fans who have been left wondering what had happened with theslasher film series, and revealed (while promoting his new film #AMFAD: All My Friends Are Dead, which will be released on August 2) toComicbook.comthat the rights issues which have held the horror threequel back have now been resolved:
“If anybody wanted to know what was up with The Collector, less than 24 hours ago, after five years of legal entanglements, The Collector is free. The Collector’s coming back, and it’s going to be mad scary…wait until you see that sucker hit.”
The Collectorspawned a follow-up in 2012 namedThe Collection, with the terror caused by the titular slasher killer taken to new heights and transforming the culthorror hit into a franchise. At least, that was the initial plan, with the creators confirming several years ago that a third film was underway. In 2019, it officially started shooting, but a few mishaps caused it to enter development hell, with Dunstan losing the rights to do anything related toThe Collected.
The Collector
The Collector tells the story of a desperate man who plans a heist at a wealthy home, only to discover that a far more dangerous and sinister presence is already inside. As he navigates through a series of traps and horrors, his initial mission turns into a fight for survival against an unknown threat.
Dunstan continued, and teased that The Collected will be the “best” outing in the series so far and willexplore the “pitch, pitch dark.”
“We weren’t to trespass into that until it could be the best one. Every next movie has a chance to be the best movie …#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Deadhas humor, has hope, has other emotions, and really uppercase humor for a while to get us through the character development, then we use it more sporadically to keep people off rhythm.
The Collectorhas been about that space in the darkness where you have two choices, terror or heart. And there’s a mental place to go for everybody … We’re going into the pitch, pitch dark.”
The Collector Has the Potential to Take on Slasher Icons Jason, Michael Myers & Freddy Krueger
InThe Collector, Arkin O’Brien is a handyman who works for a very wealthy family. His wife has gotten into some financial trouble, and Arkin decides to indulge in some stealing. He breaks into the home of the Chase family, but apparently, someone has gotten inside first. A clever assassin has filled the house withlethal and ingenious booby trapsthat will lead to the demise of anyone who dares enter. While critics didn’t exactly love it (the film has 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes), the film had a good run financially, making over $10 million from a $3 million budget.
Originallyconceived as a prequel toSaw, which would depict John Kramer’s origins before turning into Jigsaw,The Collectorhad all the potential to be a modern slasher franchise. Lead actor Josh Stewart captivates as Arkin, a role he played in both movies, and everything points to him returning to play the character again inThe Collected. We’ll just have to wait for Dunstan to finish up with#AMFAD: All My Friends Are Deadand hope thatThe Collectedenters production soon.
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In the sequelThe Collection, Arkin is back in the game after barely escaping from the Collector. He is hired by a wealthy man to help a team of mercenaries after a young woman IS captured by The Collector. Arkin complies, seeing success in the mission as a fresh start, but the memories of the previous events prove to be too much of a burden. The film’s box office takings were not as good as its predecessor (though it did fare better with critics at 37% on Rotten Tomatoes), but producers still believed in the concept enough to throw around ideas for a third part.
When comparing the two films, the second one is more of a collection of ultraviolent segments centered around a very disturbed individual. The first one, meanwhile, had a certain appeal for fans of slasher franchises who saw in the Collector a killer who would be able to stand against the other slasher icons thanks tohis insane ability to build traps.
The Collectoris available to stream on Tubi, andThe Collectionis available to stream on Plex.
