The arrival of Shelby Oaks carries with it a heavy sigh of relief. And fatigue. The feeling of “finally.”
Starting as a horror sketch for his YouTube channel, debut director Chris Stuckmann (alongside his wife and co-writer, Samantha Elizabeth) launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2022 in the hopes of fully realizing their concept as a feature film. Shelby Oaks stars Camille Sullivan, Sarah Durn, Michael Beach, and Brandon Sexton III.
Shelby Oaks would quickly become the most-funded horror project on that platform (surpassing the $1 million mark in less than a month of the campaign’s launch). They would garner the attention and backing of notable key players in horror, including but not limited to: Aaron B. Koontz (Scare Package) of Paper Street Pictures and Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass), stepping in as an executive producer.
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From conception to execution, Shelby Oaks is the very definition of a passion project. Not just in its scrappy, “if you can dream it, you can do it” origin story – but as a piece of horror homage. This film demonstrates deep respect for the horror genre, on the whole, and an understanding of the beats of the all-time greats. It delivers with smooth precision and delicious tension.
Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks is a chimera of subgenres and horror styling.
Shelby Oaks begins with the ongoing mystery and investigation into a troupe of paranormal investigators that were found brutally murdered in the midwestern ghost town of Shelby Oaks. The crime scene was horrific. The remaining evidence is sparse. And one of the four content creators is still missing.
Twelve years later, the sister of the missing girl, Mia, refuses to give up and is desperate to find the truth. Her search draws her back to Shelby Oaks, deeper into the haunted history of a place the world forgot, and into the patiently waiting hands of evil.
It is difficult to confine the film to a single category of horror. Yes, it is broadly (and accurately) classified as a supernatural horror and thriller – but that’s almost an oversimplification of the care and obvious knowledge that is woven into this film. Shelby Oaks is a true crime and found footage. It is also a folk horror and a haunting ghost story. Stuckmann wages psychological warfare with vignettes of deeply human emotional suffering, and delivers on gore and creature effects that are the most delightful sort of stomach-turning.
No fluff. No fuss. Just fear.
Where Stuckmann truly excels is in how smoothly he guides a seasoned horror-loving audience through these shifts. The film evolves. Beginning with one set of conventions and expectations before shocking your system with a new style and direction. It’s thrilling – and jarring – and makes it impossible for you to fully relax into Shelby Oaks. It’s a device that more films should capitalize on.
Stuckmann constructs horror with an elegant sort of minimalism. In the true spirit of an indie director, he trusts the audience’s imagination to do most of the legwork and offers up the ideal conditions for tension to build. The camera lingers on the dark menace of a nighttime forest, or the shadowy hall of an abandoned building.
Shelby Oaks and the viewer collectively hold their breath in anticipation of the danger we all know is just beyond view (or hidden in plain sight – I recommend, at least, two watches so you too can play a disturbing game of “Oh s**t, he was there the whole time!”). It’s not a flashy film, but very intentional.
The film doesn’t break the mold. But it does perfectly execute on the fundamentals of fear.
A comment that can be made in both praise or criticism of Shelby Oaks is that it doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel. It can be described as straightforward and familiar. The canon of horror that clearly influenced the project is apparent to any genre fan, which is what makes Stuckmann’s transition across subgenres so instantly recognizable and enjoyable. What Shelby Oaks lacks in novelty, however, it more than makes up for in reverence and precision.
Shelby Oaks works because it feels every bit like a “by horror fans, for horror fans” experience. Stuckmann makes his study of horror icons readily apparent, and Shelby Oaks acts as an ideal vessel to showcase that knowledge, with a signature style of comfortable confidence. If this is any indicator of what we can expect from Stuckmann in the future, count this critic in.
Shelby Oaks screened as a part of Fantastic Fest 2025, with a theatrical release of October 24, 2025.
