The Collected: Long-Awaited Third Film in Trilogy Hasn't Shot Footage Since 2019

Fans hoping to witness the third film in The Collector franchise, The Collected, will have a long wait ahead of them for the film's potential release, as filmmakers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton recently confirmed that, despite having shot for more than a week back in 2019, they have no idea when, or if, they'll resume production on the film. With the initial installment debuting in 2009, a time when the home-video market was dwindling and streaming hadn't become as popular, it was largely embraced by devout horror fans, with that film and its sequel, The Collection, gaining a passionate following in the years since their debuts. That passion allowed a third film to move forward, but its narrative might be left unresolved.

"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," Dunstan revealed to The Thing With Two Heads. "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."

Melton added, "We actually stopped shooting in 2019. That was two years ago, and we only shot eight days, so 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."

The coronavirus pandemic caused a number of complications for movies and TV shows in 2020, but with production on The Collected having stopped prior to the start of the pandemic, it's unknown what the issue might be and what it would take for the project to move forward.

While horror fans are familiar with projects gaining momentum and ultimately being abandoned, it's rare that a project, especially with a built-in fan base, would halt production and never resume.

"It was all avoidable, completely avoidable, that's what drives me nuts," Dunstan admitted. "I didn't invest 10 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."

Stay tuned for details on the possible future of The Collected.

Are you disappointed that the project has halted? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!