Many horror fans have been excited for the sequel The Collected, the previously announced continuation of The Collector and The Collection. While production on the film did start, it seems that it was never completed. Many assumed that it was likely due to the Coronavirus pandemic and that production would pick up again, especially by this time. Unfortunately, it seems things are a lot more complicated than that. Apparently The Collected didn’t just stop production in 2019 – but the filmmakers behind it can’t seem to get it going again.
Marcus Dunstan was attached to direct the project with co-writer Patrick Melton. Now the two are coming out and explaining that The Collected is stuck in some kind of development hell. The two were able to say as much while speaking on Sean Clark’s The Thing With Two Heads podcast. Apparently they only shot for 8 days before production ended, capturing very little footage, and now the producer has ignored any attempts at contact.
Here’s what Marcus Dunstan had to say:
“Well, we shot for eight days, and then it was shut down. I invested in this thing, I’d like to know what’s happening. We stopped hearing from anybody with the production. I know most of the props I brought there have been stolen. I would think that anybody else who invested in this movie that thinks that it’s happening, wouldn’t they like to know what’s happening? .. All calls and emails have gone unanswered .. When you can’t get anyone on the phone and you don’t hear anything, at this point, I’m really p*ssed off.”
Meanwhile, Patrick Melton added:
“We actually stopped shooting in 2019. That was two years ago, and we only shot eight days, so [there’s only been] very, very little shot. Anything that’s been released has been from that time period, and there’s no plans to start shooting it. We haven’t talked to anyone who was in the production… we’d love to finish it, but, I don’t know. We’re not the producers, so we don’t know.”
Apparently they even edited a teaser with the shot footage. But much like the movie itself, they can’t complete it until the producer gives the greenlight. As for when that would be, no one can say. Marcus Dunstan further explained how out of control the situation really is:
“It was all avoidable, completely avoidable, that’s what drives me nuts. I didn’t invest ten years getting this opportunity, facilitating it, getting it together, pre-writing three different versions of this thing, just to be ignored. That wasn’t my goal. And I’m assuming that people who invested capital in this thing are probably wondering, ‘Hey, where’s our movie?’ Unfortunately, we gotta wait ’til Thor’s honesty hammer comes down and smacks them right.”
It looks like fans that were hoping for a new Collector sequel with The Collected are going to be disappointed. As of right now, it looks like there’s little to no chance that the sequel will get finished. Especially with the producer ignoring calls and emails regarding the project. But who knows? Maybe with a little more time, something will budge. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.