The Collector Ending Explained [SPOILER!]

SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!

Desperate for money to pay off a debt, a man targets a wealthy family’s home and plans to break in and steal a valuable gem. He soon learns that he picked the wrong night to carry out his plans, for a masked madman has gotten there first, imprisoned the family, and lined the mansion with deadly traps.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The Collector Plot Summary and Synopsis

Married couple Larry and Gena Wharton return home to find the power is out. They discover a large trunk upstairs, and are horrified by its contents. They are then attacked by an unseen assailant.

Former convict Arkin O’Brien works as a handyman for the Chase family. He is generally well-liked by the Chases, especially the younger daughter Hannah.

After work, Arkin meets his wife, whose debt to several loan sharks is due by midnight. To protect her and their daughter, Arkin plans to steal a valuable ruby from the Chase home.

As Arkin attempts to crack the safe, a masked figure locks the door. Michael, the father, appears with several injuries. Mistaking Arkin for the perpetrator, he grabs a golf club.

Michael’s action triggers a trap that incapacitates him, and the masked man drags Michael into the basement. Arkin calls 911, but the phone is rigged with another trap. The windows have been boarded up and lined with razors, making escape impossible.

Arkin retreats to the basement, where Michael informs him that his wife Victoria is captured as well. His older daughter Jill is out, and Hannah is hiding somewhere.

Michael gives Arkin the combination to the safe, which contains a gun. Arkin finds Victoria and has her distract the intruder while he gets to the safe. Arkin gets the gun (which has no bullets) and pockets the ruby.

While searching for Hannah, he finds a trunk containing a bloodied Larry. Larry explains that the masked man is a “collector” of people; he only collects one person in a household and kills everyone else. Horrified, Arkin flees, while the Collector locks Larry back in the trunk.

Back in the basement, Arkin discovers Michael is dead. He frees Victoria, who had been tortured. As they make their way out of the basement, Victoria sees Michael’s corpse, panics and alerts the Collector, who stabs her several times.

Jill arrives home with her boyfriend Chad. As the two prepare to have sex on the kitchen table, they notice the Collector watching them. Chad attacks him but is killed when he is pushed into a room filled with several bear traps. Jill manages to make a 911 call before being captured. Arkin frees Jill, but she doesn’t trust him and reaches for a pair of scissors, only to be killed by a trap. Arkin escapes the house alone, but sees the Collector approaching Hannah. Changing his mind, he reenters the house.

Arkin prepares a trap to kill the Collector, but the trap kills Larry instead. Arkin gets to Hannah, and sends her down a laundry chute to the basement to hide. Before Arkin can do the same, the Collector knocks him out, ties him up and brutally tortures him.

A police officer responding to Jill’s 911 call is killed by the Collector’s dog. Taking advantage of the distraction, Arkin frees himself and discovers a dead Victoria and armed explosives in the basement. After killing the Collector’s dog with a flaming bucket and trapping the Collector in one of his own traps, Arkin escapes with Hannah.

Seeing approaching police cars, Arkin runs into the road to get their attention and is hit by one of the cars. He sees Hannah carried away by the police. He tells the police that the Collector was an exterminator working at the Chase house. The explosives detonate and destroy the house, but the Collector gets away unharmed.

The Collector Ending

While Arkin is being taken to the hospital, the Collector ambushes the ambulance and kills everyone except Arkin, whom he kidnaps.

The Collector Post-Credits Scene

The Collector watches film slides on the trunk containing Arkin, who threatens to kill him.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).