I gotta admit, I wasn't a huge fan of The Collector when it came out. I mean, I liked the concept, but there were quite a few problems with the script. When word of the sequel came I honestly wasn't really looking forward to it, so when I got a chance to finally check it I went in not expecting much. Surprisingly, the movie is actually a lot of fun and improves over its predecessor in many ways. 

The story takes place shortly after the events of the first flick, where we follow a group of young female party-goers as they make their way to an underground club. Unbeknownst to them (and the rest of the clubbers) the Collector has turned the building into a death trap, and a single event triggers a giant spinning metal blade to rain down on the unsuspecting victims, causing all sorts of crazy bloody deaths and mayhem to occur. As expected from the Collector, it was all an elaborate trap to replace Arkin (survivor from last movie) with a young woman named Elena.

With Arkin having escaped the Collector's grasp before, he's forcefully recruited to aid a pack of mercenaries hired by Elena's rich father to track down and retrieve his daughter from the Collector's headquarters. Though as expected, even the Collector's "home" is filled with a series of traps that prove difficult for the men to advance in, but it's just another interesting challenge for Arkin to overcome, in hopes of pitting him closer and finally getting his revenge against the masked villain.

Accompanied with a bigger budget, it's clear that the filmmakers tried to outdo the previous installment in all aspects. The pacing is pretty solid, along with the action, and the gore has been kicked up quite a bit, especially in the beginning with the massacre at the club. As dubious as the script is in certain aspects, much can be overlooked thanks to the flick being an entertaining ride from the start. Though not much about the Collector is revealed, we're still given bits and pieces as the film progresses, especially when our leads reach the antagonist's home and we witness his various collections displayed in tubes of liquid. I also found the concept of the Collector having dogs to be intriguing, along with other varied details that are revealed to us along the way.

It's rare to find a sequel surpass its predecessor, but The Collection managed to pull it off and offer much more than we were ever given in the past and continues to make the Collector himself an all-the-more intriguing villain during the process. Definitely worth a look, especially if you enjoyed the first.