Chris Stuckmann is a YouTuber, author, film critic, and filmmaker, who started his career posting short-form movie reviews on YouTube called “Quick Movie Reviews” in 2009. He eventually began making longer movie reviews as well as reviews of television shows, anime, and video games, and currently has over 2 million subscribers on YouTube. In 2021, it was announced that Stuckmann signed with Paper Street Pictures (The Pale Door) and producer Aaron B. Koontz (The Pale Door) to write and direct his first feature film. Along with Trevor Macy (The Strangers) and Melinda Nishioka (The Life of Chuck), horror master Mike Flanagan (Midnight Mass) later came on board as an executive producer under their production company Intrepid Pictures. Stuckmann’s massive YouTube following helped him fund his directorial debut, Shelby Oaks, through a Kickstarter campaign that was so successful that it became the most funded horror film ever on the fundraising platform. In 2024, award-winning film studio NEON acquired worldwide distribution rights and Shelby Oaks was released theatrically in October of 2025. Now, NEON has released the film on Blu-ray and DVD, which boasts an abundance of bonus features including extensive behind-the-scenes access to the making of Shelby Oaks.
Camille Sullivan as Mia in SHELBY OAKS. Photo courtesy of NEON.
Shelby Oaks is a hybrid horror film; it combines found footage with a traditional narrative filmmaking format. The story follows Mia, played by Camille Sullivan (Hunter Hunter; Harland Manor), whose younger sister Riley (Sarah Durn) disappears in 2008. Riley is the co-host of a ghost hunting YouTube series called Paranormal Paranoids and goes missing with her team while conducting an investigation in Ohio. The members of Paranormal Paranoids are later found murdered, except for Riley, who is still missing. After 12 years, Mia is interviewed for a documentary about the case and shares that she is convinced her sister is still alive. The last known video of Riley shows her terrified of something, strange sounds can be heard in the background, and what looks like a face can be seen in the window. The found footage in Shelby Oaks has some very unnerving moments but the film loses a bit of its steam by the final act.
Sarah Durn as Riley in SHELBY OAKS. Photo courtesy of NEON.
Twelve years after Riley’s disappearance, a man knocks at Mia’s front door and when she opens it, he shoots himself. Stunned, she finds a videotape in his hand with a label that says “Shelby Oaks”. Determined to find Riley, Mia begins her own investigation after watching the video, which she doesn’t mention to the police. The videotape contains footage of the Paranormal Paranoids team investigating an old prison and an abandoned amusement park. The prison used in Shelby Oaks is the Ohio State Reformatory, which was featured in the film The Shawshank Redemption (1994). When Mia tells her husband about the videotape, she also tells him that Riley suffered from night terrors as a child and would wake up in the middle of the night screaming that someone was watching her through her bedroom window. She shares with him that she’s never told anyone that one night, she slept with Riley when she was afraid, and that she saw something in the window watching them.
Camille Sullivan as Mia in SHELBY OAKS. Photo courtesy of NEON.
Mia’s search for Riley leads her to the former warden of the old prison the paranormal team was investigating and an inmate who was there when a riot broke out, leading to the closure of the prison. Shelby Oaks features a fantastic cameo from Keith David (The Thing; They Live) as the warden who tells Mia a chilling story about the mysterious inmate and the night of the prison riot. Camille Sullivan gives a standout performance as the believably distraught and increasingly frightened Mia who never gives up hope that her sister is alive. The film also stars Brendan Sexton III (God is a Bullet), Michael Beach (Saw X), Robin Bartlett (The Fabelmans), and Emily Bennett (Alone with You).
Keith David as Morton Jacobson in SHELBY OAKS. Photo courtesy of NEON.
Andrew Scott Baird’s (Blood Relatives; Scare Package) atmospheric cinematography skillfully blends credible found footage of a YouTube paranormal show from 2008 with conventional narrative filmmaking technique. While Shelby Oaks offers a creative, compelling, and unsettling story that is initially well-constructed, the film suffers at times from uneven pacing, as well as an anticlimactic final act.
Shelby Oaks Blu-ray Special Features:
- Six episodes of The Making of Shelby Oaks
- Four episodes of “Paranormal Paranoids”
- The Final Tape
- Crime Scene Gallery
- Director’s commentary with Chris Stuckmann
- Hidden Special Features
- Trailer
Available on VOD and digital November 18th, 2025.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD January 6th, 2026.
For more information, head to the official Shelby Oaks website.
To purchase, head to the official NEON Shelby Oaks home release webpage.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
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Categories: Home Video, Reviews, streaming
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