Collectors
Collectors
| 01 October 2000 (USA)
Collectors Trailers

America is drawn to the macabre handiwork of the serial killer. From best sellers to movies and television, there is an insatiable appetite for serial killer related material. Enthusiasts have taken this fascination into reality, reaching out to the murderers through letters and visits, gathering artifacts of the crimes, and collecting serial killer art work. Filmed in the deep South, COLLECTORS journeys into this strange, compelling world to illuminate the outer limits of pop culture's fascination with murder and mayhem.

Reviews
ChicDragon

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

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Aneesa Wardle

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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Quiet Muffin

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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Fleur

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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Woodyanders

A morbidly fascinating documentary on hardcore serial killer aficionados who avidly collect artwork done by these notoriously alluring demimonde pop culture figures. This doc focuses on Rick Staton and Tobias Allen, who are two key admittedly ghoulish and obsessive collectors. Staton and Allen befriended serial killer Elmer Wayne Henley and persuaded him to give them enough of his work to display at an art gallery with the expected angry responses from friends and family of Henley's victims. Director Julian P. Hobbs commendably avoids trashy sensationalism and maintains a quietly observant and nonjudgmental stance while primarily centering on the odd subculture of serial killer art collecting. The collectors give provocative reasons for their interest in serial killer art: Said art allows them to confront their fears and manage their anxieties as well as safely let them go insane and provide revealing insights into the killers' warped minds. On the other hands, the victims' loved ones consider the selling and collecting of serial killer art "an abortion of justice." The artwork of serial killer both infamous (Ed Gein, Henry Lee Lucas, Charles Manson, Otis Toole, Richard Speck) and obscure (French grave robber Nicolas Claux) are featured throughout. Allen talks about his much-derided serial killer board game, which he intended as a black joke. Moreover, Allen and Staton visit crime scenes and deceased serial killers' graves. The undeniably macabre and unnerving subject matter to the contrary, Hobbs' evenly balanced and thoughtful documentary on a morally dubious acquired taste hobby offers an utterly engrossing glimpse at a truly bizarre underground culture phenomenon.

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