Shelby Oaks
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Shelby Oaks is a horror film about missing paranormal investigators (the paranormal paranoids), the dark legacy they uncovered, and the far-reaching effects their investigation has as Mia searches for her sister Riley, the lead paranormal investigator, 12 years later. As Mia uncovers new and disturbing leads related to Riley’s disappearance, she uncovers evidence of a hidden supernatural evil dating all the way back to her and Riley’s childhood.
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NEON distributes in the US.
Filmed in Cleveland, Ohio.
The film reportedly has an October 3rd theatrical release set from NEON. It was previously aimed to come out sometime last year, but according to a recent article at Indiewire, NEON pumped more money into the project to amp up the "gore and violence," resulting in some additional reshoots. Producer Aaron Koontz elaborated, saying: "We were sending Neon materials, and they saw the film. They loved it, and we were very happy with what we showed at Fantasia. But when Neon read the script and looked through it, they noticed that there were scenes we didn’t film and moments we had to tone down because we couldn’t quite pull them off with the budget that we had. They said, ‘Would you have wanted to do that if you could?'" He continues... "It’s a dark film, so we’re leaning into that, and Neon gave us the freedom and the additional funds to do it right. We were able to ratchet things up in a pretty gnarly way, and we just can’t wait to show it to people." He adds that NEON had no problems "pushing the gore." You can read more here. (6/13/25)
While the film is still in post-production, it was recently announced that Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep, Midnight Mass), Trevor Macy and Melinda Nishioka of Intrepid Pictures have joined as executive producers. Flanagan was quoted saying: "It’s been inspiring to watch Chris working toward his dreams over the past few years, and the tenacity and DIY spirit he displayed while bringing Shelby Oaks to life reminded me so much of my own journey over a decade ago. It’s been an honor to walk a few steps with him on his path, and to offer support for Chris’ vision for his ambitious, unique movie. I can’t wait to see where he goes from here." (5/1/24)
Within the first few weeks of the Kickstarter campaign not only did this project surprass its initial goal, but it quickly became the most funded horror movie ever on the site.
It's said that this film will blend elements of a documentary, found footage and a traditional movie.
Chris has credited inspirations from movies like Lake Mungo and The Blair Witch Project, but specifically Lake Mungo, where in a recent reddit AMA he was quoted saying: "I took a lot of inspiration from Lake Mungo in that it is essentially a disturbing and sad drama that has occasional horror elements, and because of that, those moments are absolutely chilling. Since you feel like the characters are real and the people have real emotions, that film scared me like no other."
This project is said to be based on the fictional "Paranormal Paranoids" internet mystery that focused on a group of missing paranormal investigators from the mid-2000s.
This is a horror movie from popular YouTube critic Chris Stuckmann and will be his feature film directorial debut.