8. The Collector
Easily disregarded as yet another sadistic wet dream for the torture porn school of horror, The Collector went above and beyond most horror outings of 2009. I'm not trying to say it doesn't revel in the fetishist torture on display but it ties it into a superior nail-biter. The ingenious cat and mouse premise produces some genuine hold-your-breath moments, as professional thief, Arkin, weaves his way through the wonderfully inventive death traps laid by the collector. Also, following on from the animal-decapitating motif I've made for myself with The Cell, the family kitty sees a particularly sticky end (yes, pun very much intended). The Collector shares industrial similarities with the Saws and Hostels but crucially puts the horror first. It's a ridiculously lean film that gives you just enough reason to care about its central character before the barrage of chaos ensues. Being from the writers of some of the worst Saw sequels I, for one, was expecting very little form The Collector so I was all the more impressed when it delivered. It's not perfect, its deviations from witty death traps to out and out torture do veer into the leering, overly nasty realms of modern horror that The Collector set itself aside from. However, it remains a superior shocker that rivets from the get go.