Freddie is an inept bank clerk with no future. His only hobby is collecting butterflies, which gives him a feeling of power and control that is otherwise totally missing from his life. He comes into a large sum of money, and buys himself a country house. Still unable to make himself at ease socially, he starts to plan on acquiring a girl friend – in the same manner as he collects butterflies. He prepares the cellar of the house to be a collecting jar, and stalks his victim over several days.

The Collector (1965)
  • Rating: (3,990 votes)
  • Taglines:Almost a love story » You won't dare open your mouth, but you'll be screaming for her to escape! »
  • Runtime:119 minutes
  • Director: William Wyler
  • Countries:UK, USA
  • Actors:
    Freddie Clegg
    Terence Stamp
    Miranda Grey
    Samantha Eggar
    Aunt Annie
    Mona Washbourne
    The Neighbor
    Maurice Dallimore
    First Victim (uncredited)
    Allyson Ames
    Clerk (uncredited)
    Gordon Barclay
    Crutchley (uncredited)
    William Bickley
    Clerk (uncredited)
    David Haviland
    (uncredited)
    Kenneth More
    Nurse / Next Victim (uncredited)
    Edina Ronay
  • Genres:Drama, Thriller
  • Producers:
    Jud Kinberg
    producer  
    John Kohn
    producer  
  • Plots: Freddie, a socially withdrawn bank clerk and butterfly collector, decides to expand to collecting human specimens. That's where art student Miranda Grey comes in. Miranda matches wits with Freddie the icy psychopath. Written by A.M.Putnam
The Collector
  • User's comment:A gem by mutty_mcflea

    In which lepidopterist Terence Stamp adds Samantha Eggar to his collection by kidnapping her and keeping her in his cellar. By and large this is a two-hander, and it's a brilliant film, adapted from a book that's every bit its equal for the first half but drops off in the second. Eggar is very good (and was Oscar nominated) but for my money it's Stamp who takes the honours. He's great at getting across the class envy and his frustration with the limits of his intelligence and knowledge, particularly when he loses his posh accent when he gets angry. Not a moment here is overplayed, and it's a tense, sad and surprising movie with a depth to the characters that makes it more than just a thriller.


  • Quotes: Miranda Grey: I've stayed the four weeks. Freddie Clegg: I just have to have you here a little longer. Miranda Grey: Why? What more can I do? What more can you want?
  • Also known as: El coleccionista (Argentina), El coleccionista (Spain), L'obsédé (Canada - French title), L'obsédé (France), A lepkegyűjtő (Hungary), Der Fänger (West Germany), Il collezionista (Italy), Kolekcjoner (Poland), Korkunç koleksiyoncu (Turkey - Turkish title), Neitoperho (Finland), O Colecionador (Brazil), O Obcecado (Portugal - original subtitled version), O syllektis (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), Offer for en samler (Denmark), Samlaren (Sweden),

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