Before Criminal Minds, This Beloved Star Was a Horror King & Starred in 2000s' Best Slasher
No, not in Saw.
We are used to thinking of our home as an island of peace. But things do not always work this way, and sometimes even your own apartment or house can turn out to be an ominous trap.
What can we say about the creepy places where we sometimes have to be for business or other reasons? Hotels, motels, other people's homes, residential or abandoned – sometimes they can cause disturbing thoughts about the fact that dark energy, frightening and unfriendly forces are concentrated in these places.
Marcus Dunstan's film The Collector was once considered a prequel to the events depicted in the Saw franchise, but instead the director made a (very) dark version of the Christmas family comedy Home Alone.
Josh Stewart From Criminal Minds Played the Main Role in The Collector
Released in 2009, The Collector ended up being one of the most underrated and overlooked horror films of the 2000s – it was overshadowed by franchises that already had a huge fan base (like Saw).
Fans of Criminal Minds may be particularly interested in this movie – the lead role is played by Josh Stewart, who portrayed Will, JJ's husband, on the show.
What Is The Collector About?
Former burglar Arkin breaks into his boss's country house to rob it and pay off a debt to his ex-wife.
Once inside, however, he realizes that the house and its inhabitants have already been captured by a mysterious man in a plush mask and a full set of torture instruments, prompting him to make a desperate attempt to save the family he originally intended to rob.
The Collector Took the Best of Saw and Made It More Realistic
By the time The Collector was released, screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan had already established their duet in the horror genre by writing the best installments of Saw – four through seven.
They also managed to win over fans with the absurdly bloody horror comedy Feast, where they showed the world the pinnacle of unpredictable plot twists and broke the canons of the genre.
There's a lot of Saw in The Collector, but none of John Kramer's fancy technology. That's what makes Dunstan's movie feel a little more realistic than a time-honored tale about why you should value your life.
The Collector is an exemplary slasher that demonstrates all the possibilities of the genre in full glory, while traps and torture play a supporting role in the perception of all this horror.
In Marcus Dunstan's film, the concept of the slasher takes on a new form, moving forward but preserving the most important canons of the genre and its elements.