"Saw" and "Feast" series veterans Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan keep up their predilection for inventive nastiness in this intense, atmospheric production that is at least on a par with the original "The Collector". One still has to be prepared to suspend their disbelief quite a bit, but Melton and Dunstan do get high marks for showmanship, if not subtlety. The movie never tops an early set piece set in a club, which - aside from the plethora of digital gore - may have some horror fans howling in appreciation. As before, there are plenty of elaborate booby traps and torture devices, and characters who are mostly thinly written; many of them are just there to add to the body count. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.
The much abused thief turned reluctant hero Arkin (Josh Stewart, returning from the first movie) has made it back to the real world, but a man named Lucello (Lee Tergesen) blackmails him into joining in an operation ordered by Mr. Peters (Christopher McDonald), whose daughter Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick) is the latest person to be abducted by the monstrous Collector (Randall Archer, replacing Juan Fernandez). Since Arkin is the only person who's seen inside the enormous "house of horror" created by The Collector, he's the obvious choice to lead this group inside and attempt to rescue Elena. Naturally, The Collector makes quick work of this hapless bunch of schmucks.
There's enough action and pace here - not to mention gore - to keep things watchable. Most of the acting is inane, but Stewart is as reasonably engaging as he was the first time. Archer is a passable villain. Tergesen proves to be completely bad ass, and Fitzpatrick does well as a young women, who despite a handicap - she wears a hearing aid - refuses to roll over and play victim. Everything leads to a pretty good, fiery finale, and a rather amusing coda. Director Dunstan makes sure that "The Collection" hits the ground running, and it's also appreciatively short in length (82 minutes all told).
Not bad if one just wants to relax their brain.
Seven out of 10.
