The Collector (2009)

Arkin in an ex-con turned handyman, working at the home of a jeweler, Larry Wharton, who owns a massive ruby.
When his girlfriend and wife are in danger from loan sharks,  He makes a deal with an acquaintance he made in jail to steal the ruby to raise the money to pay the loan.
When Arkin arrives in the family home he is not the only intruder - The house has been rigged with lethal boobie traps, and the Whartons are already being tortured by serial killer The Collector.

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Apparently, at one point in this movies development, it was envisaged as a SAW prequel (It is, incidentally, written by the guys who wrote Saw 4,5,6 and 7); I'm glad they didn't do that, firstly because I really don't see how this would have fit with Jigsaws continuity, and secondly because these are the wrong kind of 'traps'. While Jigsaw's 'traps' were more games, that people either wake up in, or must enter willingly, The Collectors traps are the kind you fall into - literal traps.

If I had to tie it into the continuity of an existing franchise, I'd make it a Home Alone sequel: in which Kevin, under the less than watchful eye of his neglectful parents, has grown into a psychopath, and uses the trapping skills he honed protecting himself from burgers, to torture his victims. 

I jest of course, but the traps are mostly that type: nails on stairs, razor wire stretched across rooms at face-height, a room full of bear traps; only one or two have any kind of engendering cleverness to them (mostly rigging potential weapons, ready for when his prey tries to defend themselves). 

The gore though, is right up there with the Saw movies, both in style and believability, and the whole thing looks great. 

Kudos also on the pacing; a movie that takes place almost entirely in one house, and only really features half a dozen potential victims could easily have felt stretched of padded, but the movie keeps everything moving along at a nice pace. 

I really liked that we were "in on" most of the traps; there's a kind of establishing montage that shows us most of them up-front, which you would expect to kill the suspense. Instead it works entirely to the films advantage, leaving us to wonder who will set each one off, and when. 

Despite his dependence on traps, the  killer isn't afraid to get involved directly; he's a very real presence in the house, and carries throwing knifes (although mostly he uses them close up, rather than actually throwing them), which adds a great deal to the movie - being stalked in a building you can't leave, that's so riddled with traps that you dared not even run? No thanks!

Speaking of the killer, he looks great - a simple jumpsuit and fabric mask, and some wicked contact lenses that make his iris and pupil an iridescent black / gold, not unlike an insect's eyes, it's a simple design, but it's really sold by the actor. It would have been easy to cast a hulking, imposing figure for the roll, but in a stroke of genius, they've cast a small, slightly spindly, man who's movements and creepy and deliberate.

I Enjoyed it; It's not as cerebral as the first few saw movies, but it's not pure torture porn like, say, Captivity either.

My first "Reccomended" of the season!