Shelby Oaks (2024) is a supernatural horror mystery film written and directed by Chris Stuckmann in his feature debut, co-written with his wife, Samantha Elizabeth.
A woman’s desperate search for her long-lost sister falls into obsession upon realising that the imaginary demon from their childhood may have been real.
Shelby Oaks offers a singular horror experience. The film seamlessly blends found footage, faux-documentary realism, and traditional narrative storytelling, defying genre conventions and delivering a uniquely immersive and terrifying journey. For a new generation of horror fans, it’s a theatrical event that feels both familiar and entirely new.
A twisting, tension-fuelled narrative, Shelby Oaks is a gripping mystery – one that unfolds with escalating dread and psychological intensity. As the truth unravels, audiences are taken on a haunting, emotionally resonant ride that lingers long after the credits roll.
Known previously as a prolific YouTube film critic, Stuckmann transitioned into filmmaking with a project that is both deeply personal and genre-savvy.
In his directorial debut, Stuckmann cements his place as a bold new force in horror. With assured visual storytelling, razor-sharp tension, and immersive world-building. Shelby Oaks marks the arrival of a confident and compelling new voice in genre cinema.
The significance of Shelby Oaks lies in its layered origin and emotional resonance. Inspired by Stuckmann’s own upbringing—particularly his experience growing up in a restrictive religious environment as a Jehovah’s Witness—the film explores themes of repression, identity, and belief.
Director’s Statement
It was 2016, and my wife and I were shooting our 4th Annual Halloween Special, a festive series of videos we published to YouTube each October to celebrate spooky season. That year, we adopted a theme ‘cabin in the woods’ horror movies, and we filmed the Special in a cabin deep in the backwoods of Tennessee. We also shot a wraparound segment that featured a mask-wearing, knife-wielding lunatic who documents their kills with a VHS camcorder. On the drive home, we were inspired and discussed adapting the segment into a feature that focused on paranormal researchers who disappear.
But what started as a tale about missing YouTubers eventually transformed into something with deeper, darker implications for its characters. The script was uncommonly structured and I was an untested filmmaker, so generating interest in the film was damn near impossible. Finally, after many months of failed financing attempts, and despite many folks warning against it, I launched a crowdfunding campaign, uncertain of its prospects. To my shock, Shelby Oaks became the highest-funded horror film in the history of Kickstarter, taking in nearly $1.4 million. Immensely grateful, and more than a little daunted by the sudden enormity of the project, we set out to make the film.
I didn’t realize it until post-production, but this became a much more personal project than I had initially conceived. We follow Mia, played by the immensely talented Camille Sullivan, as she searches for her sister, who’s been missing for twelve years. The world believes her sister is dead, yet Mia plows forward, convinced her search isn’t in vain. I was raised in a faith that practices shunning, and when I was twelve, my sister left that faith. I was forced to shun her, and as a result, I cut off all communication with her. I was told my sister was “spiritually dead,” and despite knowing she was alive and well, we didn’t reconnect until my early twenties, after I finally escaped that faith. So it only makes sense that I’d identify with a story about someone’s desperate yearning to find a lost loved one, as seemingly insurmountable forces keep them apart.
With Shelby Oaks, I looked to brilliant films like Joel Anderson’s Lake Mungo, a pseudo-documentary that expertly generates familial terror through the looming knowledge that something awful is going to happen, and there’s little that can be done about it. M. Night Shyamalan’s work on The Sixth Sense and Signs was also a great influence, his uncanny ability to generate tension out of thin air always on my mind. I studied found footage movies and true crime docs, and looked for ways to embrace what I love about both. All those failed financing attempts could be traced back to the fact that a movie like Shelby Oaks didn’t have a proven roadmap. I couldn’t say, “It’s this meets this.” Which is why I’m so grateful to those backers who made the film possible, and to NEON for all their incredible support.
Nine years ago, my wife and I shot a YouTube sketch that has now evolved into a feature film. Over the course of making it, I became a father to twins, and a pandemic shut down the globe. Most filmmakers say that every film they make changes them, and indeed, while making Shelby Oaks, the axis of my entire world shifted. And I couldn’t be happier.
Chris Stuckmann Writer, Director
Chris Stuckmann is an American filmmaker, author, and former YouTube film critic, born on April 15, 1988, in Boston Heights, Ohio. He rose to prominence through his YouTube channel, where his articulate and passionate reviews earned him over 2 million subscribers and a reputation as one of the platform’s most respected voices in film criticism. Deeply influenced by directors like Spielberg, Shyamalan, and Nolan, Stuckmann transitioned from reviewing films to making them, culminating in his feature directorial debut Shelby Oaks (2024), a psychological horror film rooted in personal trauma and supernatural dread. His creative journey has been shaped by a desire to move beyond critique and into storytelling, especially after publicly sharing his experience growing up in a restrictive religious environment. Stuckmann is also the author of two books—The Film Buff’s Bucket List and Anime Impact—and a certified critic on Rotten Tomatoes. His work reflects a deep reverence for cinema as both art and emotional excavation.
Samantha Elizabeth, also known as Samantha Stuckmann, is a writer and creative collaborator who co-wrote Shelby Oaks alongside her husband, Chris Stuckmann. While she maintains a low public profile, Samantha’s contributions to the film reflect a nuanced understanding of character psychology and emotional layering, helping shape the film’s themes of repression, belief, and familial loss. Married to Chris since 2014, she has supported his filmmaking journey both personally and professionally, often working behind the scenes to refine story elements and emotional beats. Her presence in the project adds a quiet but vital depth, grounding the horror narrative in lived experience and relational truth. Though not widely known in the public sphere, Samantha’s creative influence is felt in the film’s emotional core and its commitment to exploring trauma through genre storytelling.
