Interview with Colin Theys, Director of the ‘Stalker’s Prey’ Trilogy!

When I say I LOVE thriller and horror movies, I mean all of them including the cheesy, over-the-top lifetime ones. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Colin Theys, director of the campy horror Lifetime trilogy, Stalker’s Prey. The films in this trilogy include Stalker’s Prey (2017),  A Predator’s Obsession (2020), and the third installment Stalker’s Prey 3 (2021), which is releasing on May 22. Learn about Colin’s career, his love for movies, details about the Stalker’s Prey trilogy, what to expect from the third one, and more!

PopHorror – Hi Colin. How is 2021 treating you so far?

Colin Theys – 2021 has been surprisingly great. I’ve been fortunate to make it to vaccination without getting sick and the production world has been busier than ever. I’m currently working on three films shooting simultaneously all over Connecticut. They all pose very different challenges and tell different stories. Plus, it’s the year I can now officially say I’ve directed a trilogy of movies, which is definitely a bucket list sentence.

PopHorror – Hell yes! What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

Colin Theys – I grew up loving movies. My family would watch one almost every night. Meanwhile, I acted in theater and was an amateur animator. In college, I studied film and sort of realized that directing is the natural combination of animation and acting. It’s a fascinating combination of technical craft and art. I love the medium and enjoy getting involved in all sorts of capacities. It’s a little like tricking the world into looking like something specific is happening just long enough to take a picture of it.

PopHorror – Very true. You’ve done a variety of Hallmark and Lifetime movies, how’d this come about?

Colin Theys – This industry is very experience-driven. One thing leads to the next and you sort of follow the opportunities as they come. I got started doing features for television working for Syfy’s sister network, Chiller. They were relatively small, low-budget, made-for-TV horror projects, but we did some cool stuff and that experience led directly to additional work in the same sphere. I’ve earned a bit of a reputation for being able to deliver a lot with a small budget. That’s a double-edged sword, but it can lead to cool, if challenging, opportunities.

PopHorror – Most definitely. What I love most is that it seems like half of your movies are sci-fi/thriller/horror movies while the others are Christmas love stories. I actually love both. Do you prefer one over the other?

Colin Theys – I have been very lucky to be able to work in a variety of genres. It’s too easy to get pigeonholed. It’s a really gratifying challenge to work in a new genre and I wouldn’t give that variety up for anything! I would say that my heart lies in stories that have energy and style: for me, that tends to lean me into horror, SciFi, and thrillers, but I also really love getting to do comedy and would kill to do a musical sometime. In fact, I have a musical horror comedy that I hope to make someday. I really admire folks like Kevin Murphy who can do so many different kinds of stories.

PopHorror – Me too! I love it all. That leads me to my next question… what is your favorite Holiday… Christmas or Halloween?

Colin Theys – I’m going to have to go with Halloween. 🙂 It comes with so many possibilities and New England looks great in the fall. I really want to do a fall movie on purpose sometime!

PopHorror – PLEASE DO! Your upcoming film is Stalker’s Prey 3. Can you tell us about the Stalker’s Prey trilogy?

Colin Theys – Stalker’s Prey is a series about a young guy with an unusual attachment to sharks who has a serial stalking problem. He had all of the advantages in life but finds himself aimless after a breakup that ends tragically. He happens to be in the right place at the right time to save a young woman from a shark attack and becomes a media hero. She reminds him of his ex and he leans into his newfound fame and becomes obsessed with her. He doesn’t know how to let go and falls deeper and deeper into stalking her and controlling her life, eliminating people who get in his way. Over the course of the movies, this process repeats and he spirals deeper and deeper, believing that his good fortune proves that he has found his new purpose in life.

PopHorror – Definitely unique. Where did the idea come from?

Colin Theys – Every movie is impossible until it exists. The first Stalker’s Prey was actually the brainchild of executive producer Tim Johnson, who wanted to make a stalker movie where a guy saves a girl from a shark attack and then thinks she owes him her life. John Doolan, the writer, and a longtime collaborator was set on turning that into something intense that’s true to its genre and was serious, but fun. Audiences really seemed to like it and that led to two sequels! Each time, we tried to up the ante, go darker, deeper, and a little more stylized. It’s been fun to build this world across the series and I’m really excited about where this one takes it.

PopHorror – What can we expect from Stalker’s Prey 3?

Colin Theys – This is definitely our most ambitious undertaking, with some really cool locations and visuals. A sequel is always an interesting storytelling challenge. How do you top the previous while staying true to the feel and story of the previous? What can you do with that character? This one has some real horror themes while staying true to the world and story we’ve set up. I think it’s going to be a really memorable thriller.

PopHorror – Any favorite scenes without spoiling anything?

Colin Theys – I’ve got two! The first is actually a scene that I really wanted to shoot for Stalker’s Prey II. In Bruce’s beach house, there were a ton of taxidermy ducks and I thought it would be hilarious to have him stage a practice dinner where the camera starts on Bruce, and we as viewers don’t realize that this isn’t the actual meal until you see that he’s put ducks in each seat. Well, we did that this time and John Lauterbach built us these awesome mannequins out of buoys and nets to put in the chairs. I thought for sure that someone would step in and kill that scene before it ever reached an audience, but it’s still there! The other is the finale. One of the main locations is a lighthouse on a rocky island separated by a long breakwater from an isolated keeper’s house. The green lighthouse beam sweeps across the house and it’s just a great setting for a finale.

PopHorror – Sounds awesome. I can’t wait to check it out. I heard that Stalkers Prey 3 is the darkest one yet. Is that true?

Colin Theys – This is definitely the darkest of the 3. We wanted to up the ante and take the story a step forward. As a character, where do you go after the second one? I mean, he lowered Ali’s mom into the ocean in a locked shark cage and put her kid brother in a shock collar, and made him serve them dinner. That’s a hell of an act one!

PopHorror – Haha agreed! Do you think it will end as a trilogy or will there be more?

Colin Theys – We planned for this to be the end, but never say never.

PopHorror – Nice! I love a little suspense and mystery. Thanks for chatting with me, Colin. I look forward to watching Stalker’s Prey 3 and all your upcoming projects! To all those reading, check out a sneak peek of the film down below!