Neon Buys ‘Shelby Oaks,’ Horror Film From YouTube Creator Chris Stuckmann

Fresh off the success of last weekend’s “Longlegs,” Neon announced Tuesday that it has acquired worldwide rights to the “Shelby Oaks,” which was written and directed by filmmaker and YouTube creator Chris Stuckmann. It marks Stuckmann’s feature directorial debut. The film is described as a documentary-found footage crossover. It will have its world premiere at Fantasia Festival on Saturday. Neon will release the film theatrically in the U.S. and handle international sales.

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“Shelby Oaks” stars Camille Sullivan (“Hunter Hunter”), Brendan Sexton III (“Don’t Breathe 2”) and Sarah Durn (“Where the Crawdads Sing”). It follows a woman named Mia (Sullivan) as she frantically searches for her sister Riley (Durn), who ominously disappeared in the last tape of her investigative series, “Paranormal Paranoids.” Stuckmann’s film benefitted from a 2022 Kickstarter campaign, which raised $1.4 million for the film in under a month, making it the most-funded horror film in the service’s history. Stuckmann’s criticism of movies, video games, anime and TV is widely viewed on YouTube and he has authored books, including “The Film Buff’s Bucket List: The 50 Movies of the 2000s to See Before You Die.”

Stuckmann produced the film with Aaron B. Koontz, Ashleigh Snead and Cameron Burns for Paper Street Pictures. Executive producers are Trevor Macy and Melinda Nishioka for Intrepid Pictures with Mike Flanagan, Adam F. Goldberg, Paul Holbrook, Sean E. DeMott and Tony Killough.

The deal was negotiated by Neon’s vice president of acquisitions and production Jason Wald with Paper Street Pictures’ CEO Aaron B. Koontz on behalf of the filmmakers.

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Neon most recently acquired the North American rights to Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” U.S. rights to Osgood Perkins’ “The Monkey” starring Theo James, and the worldwide rights to Perkins’ “Keeper,” starring Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland. Neon also nabbed North American rights to Julia Ducournau’s “Alpha” and “The Unknown” from Arthur Harari.

Neon recently released Perkins’ horror film “Longlegs” in theaters, where it opened to $22 million, a record debut for the indie studio. Upcoming releases for Neon include Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo” and Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes.

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