The Collection is better. It's essentially Saw + Aliens.
Well, I just finished the first one. After the dreadful setup scenes (the main actor has
zero dramatic range or charisma... lol @ the scene with his wife/ex/whatever), the action begins, and it's pretty good stuff. Great core concept, good special effects, a solid script, some great kills (I'm not into torture porn at all, but even I had to admit the gore was impressive), Madeline Zima's incredible titties... there's a lot to like about the movie. The camerawork is actually pretty nice too (for a film like this anyway), though there are places where the film looks cheap as hell. The soundtrack sucks, but I didn't expect anything good.
It's no masterpiece, but it was worth watching. You wonder how much better it could have been with a different director or cast. Anyway, I'm going to check out the sequel soon.
EDIT: Just finished it!
The Alien to Aliens comparison is apt. Everything in
The Collection is "bigger and better," there's more of everything, and as a result the horror tone of the first film is totally gone. Nothing is scary, and there's very little tension and no subtlety to anything, just gore and action.
And they don't waste a second before letting you know you're watching 100% schlock, so I'm sure the filmmakers knew what they were doing. (I like how the douchebag boyfriend just gives a slightly perturbed "Oh, fuck!" when he loses his finger in the ridiculous rave scene. Hilarious garbage.)
Positives: the female lead is really good. And I couldn't believe the B/C-list "name" actors they had slumming it in this one, but they each gave it their all. The special effects and art direction were pretty good. Not badly directed. The ending was satisfying.
Negatives: nonsensical script where nothing makes any sense. The gore has no real impact because the characters are mostly flat. The antagonist almost feels like a parody of the first movie... it's like he's transformed into an actual, superhuman monster instead of a serial killer. (Note: these might be all positives if you enjoy schlocky horror.)
I would mildly recommend the first movie to horror fans. YMMV with the sequel.
Now I
really want to know what happened with The Collected, only a tiny bit of which was ever shot. I don't see how the story continues.