I’ll be attending, for only a few days, the Fantasia Film Festival, which is set to screen and world premiere Chris Stuckmann’s “Shelby Oaks” on July 20.
Neon has acquired the rights to “Shelby Oaks,” which is being described as a found-footage horror film from Stuckmann, a former YouTube film critic. Stuckmann’s debut feature started out as a Kickstarter campaign in 2022 — he ended up raising close to $1.4M in less than a month, the most-funded horror film ever on the platform.
“Shelby Oaks” follows Mia, in total panic, searching for her sister Riley, who suddenly disappeared during the last taping of her investigative series, “Paranormal Paranoids.” She suspects paranormal forces might have been responsible for her sister’s sudden vanishing.
As you would imagine, given the film’s micro budget, the film stars plenty of newcomers, including Camille Sullivan, Brendan Sexton III, and Sarah Durn. Neon is planning a theatrical release this fall. On a side note, I was told Stuckmann actually opted for a Fantasia premiere rather than being included in TIFF’s Midnight Madness section.