Though this is the sequel to "The Collector" and ties in well with the ending of the first film, it actually has very little to do with the original. For starters, you have to forget the premise of the first as well as The Collectors modus operandi. Like the original, these films work well if you don't think... at all. Once you do you'll start spotting the massive gaping flaws in the story. So in this chapter, The Collector has upped his game and has gone after a club full of young adults. From which one survives. Luckily for her, she has a loving and rich father who will do anything to get her back... so he sends in his own band of mercenaries to get her out... okay, everybody, let's march into the blood-spattered decrepit hotel and chant at the top of your voices, "Let's Go Die, Let's Go Die". And so the carnage continues.
The thing which made the previous film so good is the same thing that makes this... the tension and suspense. Dunstan is a maestro at manipulating the pace and atmosphere to get you on the edge of your seat. Every time a trap is sprung you wonder how nasty it'll be... answer... very nasty. That's the second thing keeping the audiences attention, the kills and the action. There is a tonne of gore, enough to keep Hershall Lewis smiling in heaven, and plenty enough for the gorehounds.
Stewart is much better as Arkin in this film. It would appear that being the collector's plaything has added an extra depth or two to him. His motivation to escape is evident in every scene he's in. Lee Tergesen does a passable job as the hired killer Lucello. However, the rest of his merry men are ten-a-penny redshirts... proper cannon fodder. So, it would appear that the writers decided not to fill out their characters too much. Then there was Fitzpatrick as Elena, who was okay while she didn't say anything. However, when she did speak she spoke with wooden tongue.
The special effects were awesome, the re-breaking of Arkin's arm and the escape attempt is quite nearly sickening. The sewn together body parts is eerie and disturbing. And the traps are gruesome and deadly. Hopefully, all of this should be enough to satisfy, who needs a story, right(?)
The story really could have made this into a better and stronger film. In the original, all you had to do was forget that it takes time to jerry-rig a house with all the traps, the collector used - forgivable, for entertainment's sake.
The character of the collector breaks into a house and leaves a present for the homeowners. A trunk, inside of which is a tortured person from his previous escapade. This "Present" is for shock value to throw the prey into confusion and fear. Then he sets about torturing and killing everyone, but one, in the house... nobody lives.
This is even mentioned on a TV News Broadcast in the sequel. There's been a spree of home invasions with this MO. Even though it's the police being interviewed in the broadcast there appears to be no manhunt for The Collector. No Task Force. No FBI. Then there's a party at a secret location... not too secret as TC's had time to set up a really nasty combine harvester trap, which is rigged to the trunk, hidden away in one of the rooms of the derelict house. Boy, he was really hoping that somebody would be curious enough to go looking through a condemned building, so they'd set the trap off.
Then when we get to his hotel it just gets worse. Not only does this killer torture and murder homeowners but he must also be picking up people off the street judging by the number of dismembered cadavers laying around... Not only that, but he now has "The Collection" roaming around the place too. People too scared to try and escape. Most of which are high on drugs. TC must be cooking the stuff or he really is one sick rich dude. However, the strange thing is the traps in this place... a place that's his so he has all the time in the world to construct the best traps ever, but are really weak-assed. One of them is a hallway of plywood with nails knocked through them. They don't even move together. Another is a hallway full of bear traps. Which you can easily get through by just walking to the side of them. Damn this place really needed Kevin McCallister's touch.
Then there's the stitched together body parts. Looks, like TC's been watching The Human Centipede, what a sicko... This absolutely breaks with his persona. There is no way that he would do this. And then to arrange them in some kind of fluid inside glass canisters... believability is out the window.
Had the writers chosen, not to go down this path but to remain on the original and begin to explain TC's psychosis and background a little then it would have only helped to define the character better. The strongest films give their audience an inkling into the psychopath and his thinking. You know what's eating Norman, what's driving Michael, why Freddy is so evil, and even Jason gets a backstory and motivation. These add to the power of their characters and hopefully the films.
If you're a gorehound then this film is definitely for you. If you don't like blood then I'd recommend you stay away.
