MovieChat Forums > The Collector (2009) Discussion > I don't get it... what was the point?

I don't get it... what was the point?


What was the point to this entire movie? did the killer have a motive or was it just a random attack? why set up all the elaborate traps? why does he keep people in that box? who is the killer exactly besides what his job on the house was?

So many unanswered questions, I feel like people were just too distracted by the gore

reply

Real answer: some people like to see people die in an array of creative manners in fiction (hence the appeal of the Final Destination, Elm Street, and Saw franchises). After the Saw series ended (I think they're reviving it again), the producers wanted to create a series to replace Saw. Hence, The Collector.

In-story answer: Each serial killer has his own MO. Some serial killer may prey on dumb hitchhikers, raping, torturing, and then finally killing them. Others may make human mask out of their victims' skin (this case inspired the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre). There was a British serial killer that enjoyed poisoning his victims slowly. It's really not important why the killer in the film liked setting his traps or how he developed such penchant. Perhaps he enjoyed seeing his victims futilely struggle with the traps. Perhaps it was his own human experience. The killer was hinted but this film was more about the protagonist's struggle for survival, hence the reason why the killer himself was relegated to the background. The writers probably felt that focusing on the protagonist and his survival, rather than the killer himself, was the right course to take for this film.

reply

Real answer: some people like to see people die in an array of creative manners in fiction

I don't. I'm never really a fan of gore. I find that it's about the characters, intensity and the story and how characters manage to cope and fight back and survive through the extreme. Rooting for people and often times in films watching them become tougher and more of a threat to the killer than a victim.

True though that some people do love horror movies for the gore and to see what horrific creative things the writers can come up with. But fictional violence is so separate from real life that there's no harm in that. The majority of fans of the horror genre would react completely different to horror happening to people in real life.

reply

...But, you somehow found your way to The Collector IMDB page. Makes no sense. Just like this thread.

reply

Some people.......smfh.

Hes a serial killer that thrives on trapping and torturing his victims. The reason it's called the collector is that he collects, and keeps, one victim from his previous invasion in order to "Collect" his next target(s). That's the point. Nothing more, nothing less.

reply

He is a sick man with deep psychological issues. He thrives on torture and killing. He has an obsession with collecting people as trophies.

He's an entomologist and has an obsession with insects as well. In the sequel, they explain he was deeply scarred by his father who owed a museum and commited similar crimes. He slaughtered his entire family, but spared him when he was just a boy.

reply

So many unanswered questions


In real life we don't know that and we don't need to know that either in a movie.

reply