The story for Shelby Oaks was written by Stuckmann and his wife, Samantha Elizabeth. An independent production, the film was crowdfunded through Kickstarter. By March 2022, it had become the most-funded horror film on the platform after raising $650,000.[14] Principal photography took place in Stuckmann's home state of Ohio in mid-2022.
Shelby Oaks had its world premiere at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival on July 20, 2024, after which Flanagan became attached to the project, eventually becoming an executive producer. The film was subsequently re-edited and underwent reshoots before it was released at Fantastic Fest in September 2025.[15] The film was released theatrically in the United States by Neon on October 24, 2025,[16] to mixed critical reception.
Plot
Paranormal investigatorYouTubers Riley Brennan, Laura Tucker, David Reynolds, and Peter Bailey—collectively known as the Paranormal Paranoids—go missing while investigating a prison in the ghost town of Shelby Oaks. The bodies of all but Riley are eventually found, and one of their two cameras is recovered, containing footage of a terrified Riley.
Twelve years later, Riley's older sister, Mia, is interviewed for a documentary about Riley's disappearance. Mia asserts her belief that Riley is still alive, then recounts that Riley often experienced night terrors as a child and perpetually believed something was watching her. Mia's marriage to her husband Robert is under strain in the wake of the Paranoids' bodies being discovered, compounded by their consistent failure to conceive a child. After the documentary crew leaves, a stranger arrives at Mia's door and says "she finally let me go" before shooting himself in the head.
Mia retrieves a mini-DV tape labeled 'Shelby Oaks' from the man's body. She withholds the tape from police, assuming they will reason that the stranger murdered Riley and close the case. She plays the tape, which reveals the Paranoids investigating the prison along with an abandoned amusement park. At a cabin at night, they are attacked and killed by the man, who captures Riley before the footage cuts out. Mia later sees a dog with glowing eyes outside her home.
Mia interviews the former prison warden, who reveals that the man is named Wilson Miles and was a violent offender. After Miles arrived at the prison, a riot erupted, during which a computer malfunction opened every cell, though Miles stood in place and stared out his window instead of leaving. Mia finds a book in Riley's belongings describing demonic symbols. After doing more research and learning about parasitic incubi and hellhounds, Mia becomes convinced Riley was the victim of an occult ritual. Exasperated by Mia's obsession with solving Riley's case, Robert leaves her.
Mia goes to the prison, finds Miles' former cell, and looks out the window. She sees the ruins of the amusement park in the distance before being attacked by a hellhound. She flees to the amusement park, where she encounters another hellhound and a dilapidated farmhouse. The home's elderly occupant, Norma, invites Mia inside.
In the house, Mia finds photographic evidence that Norma is Miles's mother, and that Miles kidnapped Riley. Under the influence of Norma, a devotee of the incubus Tarion, Miles repeatedly raped Riley in an effort to conceive a child until, after many miscarriages, Riley finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Mia texts Robert to send police to her location, and demands that Norma tell her where Riley is. Norma leads her into the basement, where Riley is imprisoned. Mia frees her, but rather than leave, Riley seizes a fire poker and goes upstairs. Mia follows her and witnesses Norma incapacitate Riley before performing a blood ritual over Riley's newborn. Mia glimpses Tarion. Norma dies from blood loss and Mia lovingly greets the infant as police arrive.
Riley and the baby are taken to the hospital and discharged soon after. That night, Riley attempts to smother the baby until Mia stops her, though Riley insists the baby is possessed and must die. In the ensuing struggle, Mia accidentally pushes Riley out the window. She survives the fall but is surrounded by hellhounds and devoured. Mia realizes that Riley's childhood belief that something was watching her was actually Tarion observing both Brennan sisters, intending one to bear his child and the other to raise it. Tarion appears behind her and grasps her shoulders. Mia's eyes glow and she screams.
Cast
Camille Sullivan as Mia Brennan-Walker, Riley's older sister who is searching for her
Brenna Sherman as young Mia
Sarah Durn as Riley Brennan, Mia's missing younger sister
In July 2021, YouTuber and film critic Chris Stuckmann signed on to write and direct a supernatural horrormystery film titled Shelby Oaks for Paper Street Pictures.[17] The film is based on an online marketing campaign depicting a series of found footage videos about a fictional paranormal investigative team named the Paranormal Paranoids, as well as Stuckmann's own upbringing with his sister who was shunned from the Jehovah's Witnesses church they were raised in.[18][19] The film was produced by Stuckmann, Aaron B. Koontz, Cameron Burns, and Ashleigh Snead.[20]
The production was scheduled to begin in late 2021,[20] but was delayed due to insufficient funds and a potential strike by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) trade union.[21] Funding was achieved via a Kickstarter campaign that began on March 1, 2022. On March 21, Shelby Oaks became the most-funded horror film project on Kickstarter after raising $650,000.[14] The campaign crossed the $1 million mark from 11,200 backers by March 25.[22]
The film utilizes a mixture of found footage and mockumentary technique in its introduction, before shifting to a standard narrative mode.[29][30]
Post-production
By August 2023, post-production was suspended due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[31] The film's producer Koontz stated that Shelby Oaks was "in the final stages of post-production, including the all-important automated dialogue replacement, when actors re-record their lines. We need the actors in, but we are not a priority project because we are not in production, but we're trying to finish this film in the next month".[31] In January 2024, Stuckmann announced that post-production was finished and that he and the studio were searching for film festivals to screen the film.[32]
Mike Flanagan, Trevor Macy and Melinda Nishioka served as executive producers on Shelby Oaks, under their production company Intrepid Pictures.[33] On joining the project, Flanagan said: "I was impressed with Chris' work ethic, his intellect, his talent and his determination ... I watched his Kickstarter campaign for Shelby with great interest as it really took off ... There was so much about Chris' experience and story that reminded me of what I went through on my first film Absentia, he's on a really exciting path, and it has been a pleasure to share a few small steps with him on his way."[11] Flanagan provided Stuckmann with notes and feedback from the script stage to post-production as well as offering additional industry connections.[11]
The film was scored by the Newton Brothers, frequent collaborators of Flanagan.[34] During post-production, filmmakers David F. Sandberg, Sev Ohanian, and Scott Beck and Bryan Woods also gave notes after watching a rough cut.[35] In July 2024, Neon acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film.[36][37] By March 2025, Derek Mears joined the cast and Brett W. Bachman was hired to re-edit the film.[9] According to Bachman:
The first 30 minutes were so strong, this documentary sequence was really eloquently prepared, and it just hooks you from a narrative perspective. I’d seen so much effort to compress the opening parts of this documentary scene, and I remember thinking, ‘This is my first impression of the movie. You can really lean into this. You can actually let this thing breathe. You can really just firmly establish right off the bat the tone of this thing.‘ So my first act was actually to make the opening of the movie a little bit longer. Open that up, let that breathe, really set the tone and really ratchet up your sense of dread immediately.[30]
The film was released in the United States by Neon on October 24, 2025.[16] It was previously set to be released on August 22, 2025, and then October 3, 2025.[9][42] It premiered in Australia on October 24, 2025, and is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2025.[43]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of 95 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Shelby Oaks may stumble in its final moments, but its atmospheric tension and emotional core firmly establish it as a chilling debut from director Chris Stuckmann."[45]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 41 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[46] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.[44]
BJ Colangelo of /Film gave the film a 8/10 rating, writing that "with Sullivan's phenomenal performance and Stuckmann's keen eye, Shelby Oaks allows us to witness the start of one of the most promising new voices in horror."[47] Alison Foreman of IndieWire gave the film a B–, saying it "was obviously written by a critic, one with a near-legendary knowledge of the pop culture archives, and it's directed with a palpable confidence that could lead to better things."[48]Michael Gingold of Rue Morgue gave a positive review, praising "the doomy atmosphere Stuckmann elicits through both the accumulating detail in the found-footage material and the eerie visuals he and Baird conjure up as Mia gets closer to the town's heart of darkness."[49]
In a more mixed review, Katie Rife of IGN gave a rating of 6/10, commenting that "the first half of Shelby Oaks creates an intrigue that the second half just can't sustain."[50] Clint Worthington of RogerEbert.com gave a similar review, writing that "the first half has a fascinating DIY investigatory feel to it – it channels the true-crime impulse to pore over footage to zoom in on new details, or chase down leads late at night despite all warnings. But as the clues start to take shape, the central mystery starts to feel a bit too familiar, an uninspired gumbo of everything from The Blair Witch Project to Rosemary's Baby, with even more obvious cues eagle-eyed horror hounds will recognize."[51] Adam Nayman, writing for the Toronto Star, praised the found footage presentation in the film's first act, but was critical of what follows, writing: "Stuckmann pulls a perspectival switch on us—one meant to be both confusing and compelling. Unfortunately, he only goes one-for-two on that count, and though it takes a while for Shelby Oaks to undo the good will it has accrued to that point, it’s all downhill from there."[52] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian similarly felt that the found footage narrative style was one that "Stuckmann probably should have stayed in, with the more cinematic and style-reliant, real-world narrative that follows proving far trickier...As Stuckmann lumbers toward an ending, it’s clear that not only will he not stick the landing but that he is heading for a crash, a finale of rushed incoherence that makes little to no sense and will probably lead to the wrong kind of boos this Halloween."[43]
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times gave an unfavorable assessment of the film, describing its plot as "head-scratchingly opaque" and summarizing it as a "derivative and dogged horror movie that reverts to rote with wearying regularity."[53] David Cuevas of Next Best Picture gave the film a 3/10, concluding that "as an admirable genre attempt, Stuckmann's passionate directorial voice brings home a few note-worthy scares and compelling ideas to the table. However, throughout its timeline, Shelby Oaks aimlessly intersects formulaic cliches and other predictable beats with non-existent punctuation."[54] The Los Angeles Times's Robert Abele was also unimpressed by the film, deeming it derivative and lacking it subtlety, as well as finding the conclusion unsatisfying, concluding: "You’re stuck questioning why things happen the way they do, because it wasn’t thought through."[55]
Notes
↑ The runtime for the earlier cut(s), prior to reshoots and re-editing, that played at the Fantasia International Film Festival and FrightFest were listed at 102 and 99 minutes, respectively.[1][2] Sources list the final cut's runtime at 91 minutes,[3][4][5][6] with the exception of some still listing as 99 minutes.[7][8]
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