Shelby Oaks may sound like the kind of place where you’d buy antiques, homemade apple cider, or maybe a rocking chair with an odd stain, but this week we wander into the woods of Shelby Oaks for the 2025 theatrical horror mystery written and directed by Chris Stuckmann. Starring Camille Sullivan as Mia, the film follows as she obsessively searches for answers after her sister Riley vanished while investigating the titular abandoned town with her paranormal web series crew. Did Shelby Oaks plant the seeds for a new horror filmmaker to grow? Find out on this episode of Good Film Hunting.
#GoodFilmHunting #ShelbyOaks #ShelbyOaksMovie #ChrisStuckmann #CamilleSullivan #BrendanSextonIII #SarahDurn #KeithDavid #MichaelBeach #MikeFlanagan #HorrorMovie #FoundFootage #MysteryThriller #MovieReview #FilmDiscussion
Release Details
Title: Shelby Oaks
Year: 2025 theatrical release; world premiere was in 2024
Director: Chris Stuckmann
Writer(s): Chris Stuckmann; story by Chris Stuckmann and Samantha Elizabeth
Top Billed Stars: Camille Sullivan, Brendan Sexton III, Keith David, Sarah Durn, Michael Beach
Running Time: 91 minutes, though some festival/review listings used earlier runtimes around 99–102 minutes
Country of Origin: United States
Official Release Date(s): World premiere: July 20, 2024 at Fantasia; U.S. theatrical release: October 24, 2025 via Neon; U.K. release: October 31, 2025
Genre: Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Other Notable Projects
Chris Stuckmann — Best known before this as a long-running YouTube film critic, Stuckmann’s importance here is less about prior directing credits and more about the leap from criticism to creation. Shelby Oaks is the career pivot, the proof-of-concept, and the lightning rod all at once.
Mike Flanagan — Executive producer here, and a major name in modern horror through projects like Oculus, The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher. His connection matters because his brand is character-first horror with grief, belief, trauma, and dread — all things Shelby Oaks appears to be reaching toward.
Camille Sullivan — Plays Mia, the emotional center of the film. Her job is not just to be scared; she has to sell obsession, grief, and the dangerous belief that a missing loved one might still be reachable. That makes her performance crucial to whether the movie works as more than a spooky scavenger hunt.
Sarah Durn — Plays Riley, the missing sister and member of the Paranormal Paranoids. Because Riley exists partly through recordings, memory, and investigation, the role has to function almost like a ghost before the supernatural fully takes hold.
Keith David — A genre legend whose presence instantly gives the movie weight. His broader career includes The Thing, They Live, Platoon, Requiem for a Dream, and extensive voice work. In a smaller horror film, he brings instant credibility and texture.
Michael Beach — A reliable character actor with credits across film and television, including Aquaman, Sons of Anarchy, Third Watch, and Mayor of Kingstown. In a movie like this, actors like Beach help ground the weirdness in believable human stakes.
Social Links
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tummytwins
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flickflopspod/
X: https://twitter.com/flickflopspod
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tummytwinsmedia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goodfilmhuntingpod
