THE COLLECTOR (18, 90 mins) ** Starring Josh Stewart, Michael Reilly Burke, Andrea Roth

Long gone are the days when a horror film’s primary concern was getting beneath the skin of the audience.

Modern slashers are primarily focused on stomach-churning gore, contriving ever more elaborate methods to cut the cast down to size.

The Saw films have turned this wanton cruelty into an annual event, with a seventh instalment in the series due this Halloween.

Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, screenwriters of Saw IV, V and VI, evidently aren’t satisfied with the carnage they have already wrought, so they have co-written this equally-grisly tale about a robbery that turns unexpectedly nasty... a little like the film, which really stretches credibility to the limit.

Handyman Arkin (Stewart) is part of a large crew working on the palatial home of jeweller Michael Chase (Burke) and his wife Victoria (Roth).

The money Arkin makes from the job isn't sufficient to pay off the loan shark debts of his estranged wife, Lisa (Daniella Alonso).

Arkin returns to the Chase house to plunder the safe of priceless gems, knowing the family is away.

Unfortunately, the thief quickly discovers that a dastardly criminal mastermind called The Collector (Juan Fernandez) has infiltrated the home and booby-trapped each room with lethal devices.

Arkin must overcome the traps in a bid to get out alive.