MovieChat Forums > The Collector (1965) Discussion > terrifyingly real!!

terrifyingly real!!

posted 19 years ago by jbrewer-1
6 replies | jump to latest

This is a small, understated movie which I think is one of the most frightening films I have ever seen in my life. Stamp's character is a psychopath who abducts a young woman and holds her hostage, hoping she will learn to love him. She, in turn, bargains for her freedom. What terrified me is the "realness" of it all, because you could honestly believe that this thing could happen. In fact, I think that the screen writers based the film on a true story. Stamp's character is not the monster of evil that Hannibal Lecter is, but at the same time he is horrifyingly creepy. He justifes what he does, refuses to take responsibility for his actions, seems to believe that the laws of society do not apply to him and blames the ineviatable tragic conclusion on the victim herself, all of which are characteristics of psychopaths. The end shot is the most disturbing, as you see him sitting in his car looking longingly at another woman walking down the street and you know that he will continue to abduct women until he is stopped. The whole fim made me afraid to leave my house!!

[–] myuyuta 19 years ago

I saw this one over the weekend. Another reviewer said the ending made them think about how many times something like this happens and nobody gets to know about it. Me too. "The Collector" was really creepy in the sense that it seems like a story that could happen every day, especially nowadays. That's precisely what I liked best about it - the fact that it was not far-fetched, that it seemed a little too real.

IT'S ONLY AFTER YOU'VE LOST EVERYTHING THAT YOU'RE FREE TO DO ANYTHING

[–] pilpel6 19 years ago

I could'nt agree more. Small, understated, realistic and very scary.

[–] evangeline-love 18 years ago

I agree with everyone who feels that this movie was terrifyingly real. Saw it many years ago and I am thinking of it again (in fact I will rent asap) Reading the news coming out of Austria about that young girl who escaped captivity after being held for 10 years:

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-08-25T183302Z_01_L25744521_RTRUKOC_0_UK-AUSTRIA-GIRL.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage2

Really creepy art imitating real life or is it the other way around?

[–] Winston_C 18 years ago

In fact, he held her captive for 8 years. Kidnapped her when she was just 10 years old. 10 days ago, she managed to run away, and on the same day, just hours after her escape, the kidnapper committed suicide.

The creepiest thing: They just found a copy of John Fowles' book "The Collector" in his house. It may well be that the kidnapper was in fact inspired by this book.

I am from Austria, from Vienna actually, and all this is happening right before my eyes, so to speak. I don't want to sound melodramatic, but this whole affair IS very disturbing and touching.
Even more so because I saw the movie "The collector" years ago, I have it on video tape and I always loved it (as a movie, for all its realistic touch).

It's really, really scary to see it come to life right in front of your doorstep. And it's so sad. That girl had to spend the most important part of her life (age 10-18) in a small room underground. For years, she didn't even see the sunlight. Regarding all this, she seems to have a very strong personality, because she is relatively well educated and is able to say what she wants and what not. She has not spoken to the media directly yet, but even in her written statements, she seems astonishingly clear.

Which also reminds you shockingly of the female character in the movie. Probably the kidnapper raised an equal strong person he couldn't handle as soon as she got older. Who knows what might have happened if she hadn't escaped just now?

I am sorry for writing all that gibberish in this forum, but it's all just too overwhelming.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] willaworksnow 17 years ago

Real? Try reading the book No Kill, No Thrill.

Leonard Lake was so taken by the Fowles novel that he made a video tape announcing his desire to have an off the shelf sex partner that he could just "put away" when he was done using her.

What transpired next was "Project Miranda" where he and his partner Charles Ng Kidnapped and held as sexs slaves several unfortunate victims. When Lake killed himself and poilice went to his compund they recovered a video tape title "M" girls. Police mistakenly thought is stood for "Mirdered" girls and thought it was a testament to Lake and Ng's depravity. What it in fact stood for was Miranda Girls. Also, it should be noted that William Wyler, Academy Award winning director had memorized the book and script word for word and lobbied hard to be the one to shoot the film.

Seems, he might have had a shade of Clegg in his soul.