The Collection (2012) Movie Review

The Collection (2012) IMDB Prime Video

The sequel to the 2009 movie The Collector, each directed by Marcus Dunstan.

After escaping from a serial killer known as The Collector a man is sent back to the serial killer’s hideout to rescue a kidnapped girl. The only problem is that hideout is a booby trapped maze he needs to get thru to save the girl. And by booby trapped, I mean Saw levels of pain and creativity. Can he save her in time ? If I told you I would need to write spoiler and then give you the answer. But I didn’t so you’ll need to watch this on your own to get the answer.

If there is one thing I disagree with the critics on is that this movie is more poorly reviewed than the first installment The Collector. I completely disagree. While that movie is fine, this sequel is a much better movie. I give The Collection a 7.5 / 10. See this movie and enjoy the carnage !

Other Movie posts you may like:

A Collection of Maze and Labyrinth Movies

The 18 Best Maze Movies

Other Maze horror movies:

Cube Movie Review (1997)

Hellbound: Hellraiser II Movie Review (1988)

It: Chapter 2 Movie Review (2019)

The Shining Movie Review (1980)

Tales from the Crypt Movie Review (1972)

Us Movie Review (2019)

You Should Have Left Movie review (2020)

Using color for Maze pathways - A Case Study

Today I will explore the use of colored pathways as a choice when creating a maze and show how that decision will impact the look of the maze. Previously I looked at 12 different pathway options with #11 being using colored pathways. As an example I used the red wine maze. As you can see the burgundy pathways define the wine resting in the wine glass. Easy to understand for the viewer/solver.

But that maze is the end product, a result of a construction decision that I think was the correct one. Let’s look at a different maze that could be created with or without colored pathways and see what happens as we make different selections.

For our example we will be doing the famous Route 1 road sign from California, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway or simply the Coast Highway.

Maze Design 1 - Colored background used

Looks like the sign you might see on the side of the road (mazed!)

Route 1 Sign Maze

Maze Design 2 - Pathways colored as is

For our second example we simply lose the background color and change the pathway color to the former background color. The maze sign is recognizable, but the color is very subtle but visible. For some designers this would be an acceptable solution. In this instance I would want this maze to have a bit more color….so

Maze Design 3 - Pathways colored, but twice as thick

So I took the maze above and doubled the thickness of the lines to increase the appearance of the color in the background. It definitely works to achieve more color. And, depending on how you feel about the maze you have designed this might be a great solution. But there are 2 more options, best these options should be decided on before you have started mazing.

Maze Design 4 - Twice the pathways, original thickness

This option will make for a maze that is twice as long (or at least has twice as many pathways). For the example I cut the original maze in half (not recommended) to quickly construct it. The result is a darker background, a more difficult maze, and a longer design and drawing process. This is a nice option if you want to increase difficulty. There is certainly enough space to make this complicated ! We do have 1 more option to look at…

Maze Design 5 - Twice the pathways, double thickness

To bring the options full circle I took Maze design 4 and doubled the thickness of the pathways as I had before in Maze Design 3. The width almost switches this maze from a standard maze construction to a standard equal maze construction. Lots of color in this one.

So those are 4 possible designs for the same maze, with 4 different colored pathway options. I wanted to illustrate that the use of color is about more than color you assign the path, but also about their spacing and their thickness. Any could be used depending on how you want the final maze to look and the difficulty you want to give the solver. Here is a comparison of all 4 colored pathway examples together so you can more easily compare them. Which do you prefer ?

Similar Posts on Maze Design:

Maze Art: Advanced Tips to Creating Your Own Masterpiece

Maze Art Case Study - Bodiam Castle Maze Coloration & Improvement

How to Create Maze Art in 6 Easy Steps + Case Study

Maze options - Conditional Path options

Welcome to Part 3 of my 3 part series on maze construction options. Previously, I gave you step by step instructions to make over 40 different maze constructions. But making a maze also means making a series of different decisions, each that will change the look and difficulty of the maze. Here are the Parts we will cover in the series:

Part 1 - Starting and Ending a Maze

Part 2 - Maze Path options

Part 3 - Conditional Path options

Let’s get started with Part 3: Conditional Path Options

In Part 1 we looked at starting and ending your maze. In Part 2 we looked at all the different options for making your pathways. Today we look at a specific subset of maze construction that I call Conditional Path Mazes. This group of mazes is a choice you make as a maze maker to give your solver a bit of an extra challenge. Call them what you want, but can they follow a set of guidelines, conditions, or rules to solve the maze ? Let’s look at types:

1 - Find Items Maze

This is a simple condition mostly. You move through the maze from start to finish, but along the way there are places you need to visit to essentially find items, thus the name. It also works well for Map mazes, where finding the item, or visiting the city is the goal of the maze. Here’s a Germany maze for example:

Note: A subset of this version would be the find items in order maze, where you stipulate the order things must be found/visited.

2 - Avoid Items Maze

The opposite of finding is avoiding, at least for maze construction. This is a natural option for mazes, after all you are already avoiding dead ends !! Really these Avoid Items just create artificial dead ends within the maze, and hopefully help tell a story. Like this example of a Fish avoiding hooks. I could have made more walls but what fun is that ?

3 - Directional Mazes

A maze that states the directions you may move in is a directional maze. To reference Part 2 in the series on pathways, this could be a regular pathway or online. Below is an On Line Maze with the condition that you can only turn left to solve it.

4 - Puzzle Maze

The condition of this maze type determines your movement. This means solving a puzzle to determine your movement thru the maze. In the first example below the movement is determined with a key - you must follow the directions to solve the maze and there are no choices, but with the 2nd puzzle movement is determined by rules - and there are multiple possible ways to move between grids.

5 - Letter Maze

Simply the rules involve letters…and in this version you have choices on where you move…i.e. this M or that M from START.

6 - Number Mazes

Or similarly, numbers to determine movement. This particular variation is based on division and is a Counting maze.

7 - Color Grid Maze

Movement thru the maze is determined by following a series of colors in order.

8 - Conditional Color Path Maze

Similar to #7 but the pathways change colors rather than being colored blocks. As someone who makes a lot of mazes these are both fun and challenging to create. The non grid format gives you options to get complicated and math-y !! If you are a maze maker I suggest you try to make one of these.

9 - Non Reusable Pathways

This is used in a Go & Return Maze and sometimes in Find Items Mazes. The solver is asked to move thru the maze and never visit the same place more than once while solving. These tend to have “open floor plans” when it comes to walls. You want freedom of movement and choice to complicate the solve.

10 - Go & Return Maze

A Go & Return Maze is part #9 Non-reusable Pathway and part #1 Find Items Maze combined with a Start/Goal that is the same. So maybe this is a combination of things we have already covered, and maybe it isn’t. I thought it was unique enough to get it’s own option. In a Go & Return Maze you go from start to an internal part in the maze, then return back to start without using the same path. Those are the conditions to solve ! Here is an example:

11 - Math Maze

A variation of the number maze where your movement is determined by needing to solve a math problem to correctly advance. If you are interested I have made 11 different Math Maze Templates that are free to download.

You may also like:

What I use to make my mazes

Using Color for Maze Pathways - A Case Study

Maze Design Case Study - Designing a Grid Maze in Different Difficulty levels

How to Make a Math Maze

Maze options - Maze Path options

Welcome to Part 2 of my 3 part series on maze construction options. Previously, I gave you step by step instructions to make 40 different maze constructions. But making a maze also means making a series of different decisions, each that will change the look and difficulty of the maze. If you missed Part 1, I suggest you start there !

Part 1 - Options for Starting and Ending a Maze

Part 2 - Maze Path options

Part 3 - Conditional Pathway options

Let’s get started with Part 2: Maze Path Options

In Part 1 you figured out how you will be starting and ending your maze. Today we will explore some options for how you make your pathways. Pathways are of course where the maze solver travels as they are moving thru the maze. We start with the most common:

1 - Walled pathway

The most common pathway you will find. Self explanatory to anyone who has ever done a maze and most people that haven’t. The solver travels between walls made of lines. Here is what it looks like:

2 - On Line Pathway

On line pathways are exactly as described - the solver travels on the lines and not in between them. This defines what an On Line Maze is, but can also used for Directional Mazes, which would have instructions such as - solve this maze by only turning left. Here is an example of an On Line Maze. If a solver is not paying attention, they may try to solve this maze as if it was using walls. If you use this construction I suggest adding directions explaining the “on-line” aspect.

3 - Weaving Paths

Weaving Paths are intertwined and allow the solver to travel over/under other paths within the maze. Some use shadows or arrows to better define the movement and enhance the look of the maze, but generally it looks like below:

4 - Themed Pathways

This category is a catch all for a variety of themed pathways you find and become common in children’s maze and activity books. Some examples of these include Railroad tracks, a Roadway, a Subway Line, Sidewalks, and Pipes. Really places where people would naturally travel, or in the case of Pipes, water would. Here is a pipe maze example (which happens to also be a weaving pathway). Notice that I used shadows to further define the weaving aspect.

5 - Grid “Pathway”

Grids can used for regular mazes, but are most commonly used in the different types of Puzzle Mazes. Puzzle Mazes, Block Move Mazes, Number Mazes, Letter Mazes, all use grids to give them structure. Below is a Standard Grid Maze and a Puzzle Maze to show 2 different variations of how grids can be used:

6 - Arrow Mazes

While Arrow Maze and Slide Arrow Mazes both use a grid for structure, the pathway you are following is actually determined by the arrow you land on and the direction you choose along the way. I consider this more about the arrows than the grids they are in. Here is an Arrow Maze as an example:

7 - Free Drawn pathways

I say free drawn pathways, but really what you are drawing by hand are the walls. You get it. This encompasses all the variations that don’t quite fit into a perfect grid or grided path system. The distance between walls varies. Here is a crushed beer can (drawn digitally) with free drawn paths:

8 - Background Picture

Mazes can have backgrounds, some of which have nothing to do with solving the maze. Think of making a maze over a picture of something. You could use the border as the Maze, but internally the picture only helps to decorate the pathways. Here is my maze from National Book day for example:

9 - Objects as Walls/Paths

Similar to what I mentioned before above, this is really about creating pathways by what you use as walls. Using objects or words for the walls creates a very interesting path for the solver. I think they are fun to make and you can be very creative with it. Here are examples of pathways that were made using circles and many small boxes:

10 - Patterned walls

Drawing a standard maze with straight lines as walls can get boring for both the mazer and the solver. This can be made more interesting by using a pattern that repeats for the walls. Like a simple back and forth, or a curve. Notice the example below how a simple maze transforms when drawn with standard walls versus with patterned walls. Very different looks for the same maze.

11 - Colored Paths (walls)

There is an option to enhance the maze you have made using colored walls to define sections. It is much more common to see color used as a background, but keeping this as an option can really enhance your maze making. The example shows a wine maze, specifically a red wine maze as defined by the colored walls ! You might want to read about a case study on colored pathways.

12 - Path Spacing

While most pathways you come across will be walled, there are different looks achieved ( and different maze types resulting from) based on how the same lines are spaced. In the examples below we have walled mazes used to maze the same object with 3 different looks. #1 is a Kids maze with highly spaced walls. #2 is a standard maze with normally spaced walls. #3 is a standard equal where the walls are pathways are of equal width.

And while this is not the best example, below is a design that used different path widths for each different section of the object. I should mention that the background color is the same in every section. Notice how the bishop has a very dark colored head because of the closer pathways with a lighter core section. Line spacing is a great way to change the color and shading of an object you are mazing !

13 - Use the Drawing as Walls (Natural shape of the subject)

When making maze art I find that the best looking mazes are ones where I don’t create any pathways, but where the pathways are naturally created by the object I am making a maze of. Typically this involves the draw and cut method of maze making where I draw something, then cut a maze into the structure. Almost every building maze on this site uses that method. In the example below of Museo Soumaya the panels of the building become the walls. Panels, bricks, windows, they all have become pathway makers for me !

Additional Posts on Maze making you may like:

What I use to make my mazes

Using Color for Maze Pathways - A Case Study

Maze Design Case Study - Designing a Grid Maze in Different Difficulty levels

Check out my YouTube channel to see maze art being made !