The first trailer for YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Chris Stuckmann’s Kickstarter funded horror Shelby Oaks pretty much had it all: a creepy VHS tape, a bloody tragedy, a missing person mystery, and a score courtesy of Mike Flanagan regular collaborators The Newton Brothers. What it didn’t have at that point however was a UK release date. Well, now it’s got that too. Today, Altitude Films has announced that Shelby Oaks will be putting the frighteners on cinema goers in the UK and Ireland on October 29 — just in time for Halloween. And to celebrate, there’s even an eerie new trailer for the movie to get stuck(mann) into — check it out below;
Combining found footage cues from The Blair Witch Project, elements of the supernatural-tinged melancholy of Lake Mungo, and a distinctly Silent Hill flavoured dose of small-town ghost story, it looks like Stuckmann — who started his career as a YouTube film critic before taking a hop, skip, and massively successful Kickstarter jump into pursuing his directorial passion — knows exactly what he wants from his Neon (and Mike Flanagan) produced feature filmmaking debut. And on present evidence, Shelby Oaks — which, per its synopsis, sees “a woman’s (Camille Sullivan) desperate search for her long-lost sister fall into obsession upon realising that the imaginary demon from their childhood may have been real” — looks to have the reach to match its writer-director’s ambition.
With Danny and Michael Philippou — aka RackaRacka — having already set the bar for YouTuber-turned-horror-filmmakers incredibly high with Talk To Me and Bring Her Back, it’ll be fascinating to see whether Stuckmann can go toe-to-toe with his peers after garnering so much online buzz and festival circuit hype for his directorial debut. All that’s left to say for now is prepare to get Stuckmannized when Shelby Oaks hits cinemas here on 29 October.