#19 - The Collector

The Collector (1965)
Directed by: William Wyler. Written by: Stanley Mann (Stan the Mann?) & John Kohn based on the novel by John Fowles.

Plot: Disturbed man (Terence Stamp) kidnaps a woman (Samantha Eggar) and keeps her locked in his basement waiting for her to fall in love with him.

Review: This is an intensely fucked up movie. Lots of movies on this list I have described as ‘fucked up’ but this movie trumps the shit out of them. It’s one of the creepiest movies I’ve ever seen, almost nauseatingly so.

It’s also one of those ‘what would you do?’ movies and throughout I found myself wondering how I would get out of that. I probably wouldn’t ever be in that situation but you never know what’ll happen. You have to be prepared. I mean, I live in the country so, you know, that shit could happen at any time. Fuck.

Anyway, Terence Stamp is unbelievably creepy and messed up, the kind of guy who makes Norman Bates look really normal (no, he doesn’t have mother issues but… he collects girls like butterflies, man. That’s fucked). And I dunno, the British just makes him even creepier. Also, that whole uber polite thing. Polite people give me the willies. Everyone knows they’re all a lot of psychos.

Samantha Eggar is also a very convincing victim (ya know, someone should make a movie that’s the reverse of this. You know a chick keeping a dude hostage. Actually, they probably have, it was probably really sleazy. I can just picture it. Gah, never mind). You sort of feel bad for her, but you also feel bad for the guy as well so it’s hard. I fluctuated between hating one and the other, although I think I wound up on his side just coz, I dunno, I share a lot of his views on the world. He seemed like an interesting guy anyway. Although Samantha Eggar was in Dr. Dolittle so that sort of sways me her way. Course her character in that was a skanky ass bitch who inexplicably wanted to be a man but didn't kick that much ass anyway. WTF.

But yeah, it’s actually a pretty good romance as well, as far as romances go. It’s weird - it is really gross and horrible yet kind of cute and endearing. I don’t know how or why that works out but it does.

It’s a pretty good movie. Had me at the edge of my seat the whole time so I guess it’s pretty effective. It jarred the nerves and then made me feel like crap for several days. And it reminded me of some other movie as well right after I watched it, but that’s gone now. The only thing I can think of is The Vanishing but it’s not really that much like The Vanishing. I dunno.

Yeah, it was good though.

Favourite Part: I liked the whole set up he had for her. That was cool. If I ever get abducted by a similar variety of whacko, I hope he has funds. Unfortunately, the chances are he'll be a damn redneck and just keep me tied up in a shack or something. Dammit. Where are all the gentleman-whackos?

Other versions: Apparently (according to the IMDb) remade as Atame! with Antonio Banderas. Weird.

Sequels: None.

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