From YouTube to the Big Screen: Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks Is a Smart, Scary Directorial Debut

Chris Stuckmann, the YouTuber-turned-filmmaker, made his feature directorial debut with the horror film Shelby Oaks. The movie follows a missing early-internet YouTube crew and the sister who keeps looking for answers, and it uses a mix of documentary-style material and conventional horror staging.

- Director: Chris Stuckmann (feature debut)
- Leads: Camille Sullivan (Mia) and Sarah Durn (Riley)

Premise: disappearance of a fictional YouTube channel’s hosts after exploring an abandoned amusement park
Style: blends found-footage/documentary elements with traditional cinematography
Distributor and production notes: Neon distributed the film; producer Mike Flanagan was involved; premiered at Fantasia International Film Festival 2024

Plot setup

The story centers on a fictional early-internet YouTube channel called Paranormal Paranoids. After the channel’s hosts go into an abandoned amusement park and vanish, the case remains unsolved for years. Mia, played by Camille Sullivan, is the protective older sister of one missing member, Riley (Sarah Durn), and she leads the modern-day search.

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Structure and filmmaking approach

The film opens with documentary-style material: news clips, home videos, and archived YouTube footage, all used to give background. Then the narrative shifts into a more conventional third-person approach as Mia investigates. Throughout, Stuckmann alternates between found-footage elements and standard cinematography.

Visual and technical notes

Cinematographer Andrew Scott Baird worked on the film. The production relies on physical locations—an abandoned psychiatric hospital, an amusement park, and a forest—to build atmosphere. In the final act, the film uses staged visual devices and editing to heighten intense moments.

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Genre elements and tone

Shelby Oaks is presented as a horror film that moves into demonic territory in its later sections. The director generally avoids explicit, prolonged monster reveals, instead leaving some aspects to the viewer’s imagination. The movie includes jump scares and quieter investigative scenes as part of its pacing.

Narrative devices

At one point, the story uses a sequence of photographs to convey key plot information. That sequence functions as an explanatory device within the film’s narrative.

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Credits and release

The film was distributed by Neon, and producer Mike Flanagan was involved in the project. It had an initial premiere at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival, where early reviews were recorded.