Shelby Oaks

It could be that horror is his thing, but Chris Stuckmann went through with making his film “Shelby Oaks” with no fear. Busy counting the days to its Fantasia Festival World Premiere, many would be concerned about what audiences think. Stuckmann chuckles as he admits that it is probably something he has been thinking about for the last five years. At least, he has developed a film with confidence that will probably rank alongside many that he reveres.

A filmmaker ever since, he made his debut feature at the age of 15, which revolved around “a magic baseball diamond that was based on the film ‘Field of Dreams.’” Stuckmann became known as one of the first stars of YouTube in a niche that turned out to be quite sincere: film criticism – the channel built a huge audience of more than two million followers over thirteen years of its operation. Stuckmann started his criticism by comparison with an early couple of posters for “The Dark Knight” when he was resting on his bed. Even then, every ordinary moviegoer found his straightforward reviews easy-to-digest regardless of a backdrop and camera quality.

Eventually, his career as a professional YouTuber enabled him to leave his place of work as a school bus driver. Although he was focused on building his channel, he was still writing personal projects and producing short films. He gained motivation while making his annual Halloween special in 2016 which took place in a cabin rented in the Tennessee woods during a shooting with his then-wife, Samantha Elizabeth, which was about ‘a cabin in the woods’ films.

So yeah, the initial concept was literally a wraparound sketch where a masked knife-wielding maniac in the woods was trying to kill us. It’s like, sometimes you’re seeing it from the point of view of the killer, sometimes of us, and we did it, right. We did it on our own. There was no crew. It’s definitely one of her best moments with me. When we were heading back to Ohio from Tennessee, which was six hours after the drive, we were discussing and it struck us that there is a lot of interesting and easy, while we are both sitting, waiting for something to start, which has been the case for a long period. ‘That’s not true, we have wanted to start something for a very very extended amount of time and it just has not happened.’ And on that note, we went, ‘how about we just make it ourselves and tell the story of these YouTubers who are just gone?’”

That was how they pitched “Shelby Oaks.” After expanding the idea further, Stuckmann pitched it to Paper Street Pictures at Fantastic Fest in 2019, and the gears started turning on the project.

Even more fuel was added to techniques and motivation when a Kickstarter Campaign aimed at adding some shooting days and paying for basic necessities like paying crew members and buying equipment which he tagged at $250,000 was fully funded within two days and by the end of the campaign raised 1,390,845 USD from 14,720 backers.

Though kept to a minimum to preserve those arcs, all the hocus pocus moves around the action: it is about the girl who is searching for her sister, the YouTube’t paranormal investigator who has been missing for twelve years. Due to the focus on the subject, the audience is unclear about the projected film: how the shooting would be conducted? How the shooting would be Edited? Will it be filled up with street language & Daughtery sass and jibes? While montage and shooting style does not preoccupy Stuckmann and his shrink director Andrew Scott Baird too much, in order to progress certain plot segments, “Shelby Oaks” uses sound and music in particular evocations and focuses throughout the frame on the film’s storyline, which is a complete movie. It is not surprising that the basic narrators even more interesting simply set the stage for the standardized shot and the audience is definitely further developed and released into greater tension.

“[Andrew Baird] was one of the primary reasons I came to the conclusion it would be wise to begin a Kickstarter,” Stuckmann says. “At the beginning, as we had discussions, we came to understand that we were not going to get the resources that would be necessary to do what we would love to do. That’s when I said, ‘Okay, maybe we should do this,’ because as it turns out, the shot list we were working on and the storyboards we were making were just a lot bigger than what we thought they would be. It was Andrew, in very long conversations for weeks on end, and just seeing other representations of what could do in the indie horror genre as well as what the expenses of some things would actually be.”

Once shooting got underway, and with it the production of a film, Stuckmann says the crew was invested in the project where, even though he was popular online, he had no fear of being typecast in any position other than director on set.

“From the very first day, I was conscious of the fact that I was the greenhorn sort of and I was or felt as if I was new,” he states. “Especially in this studio, I’ve never picked up a camera in my life, but I’ve been drawing X-men comics since I was three. It’s not a big deal, and I got that. I wanted to sort of calm the nerves of the audience even during the first episode. We had this awesome sort of presentation within which we outlined making the audience feel secure and reporting anything which they found suspect as well as the fact that you can come to me with any problem you may have. Or any other thing that you have which you thought, or perhaps something that you find interesting which might be good to have in a scene. These are a few of the innovations which, in most cases, the people who provided them advanced, were most of the ideas we used them. I felt that this film is meant to be enjoyed by a lot of people – so why not make it a joint effort.”

As per the latest announcements, “Shelby Oaks” has thumped two enormous laurel leaves in the last few weeks: First, the creator of “Haunting of Hill House” and Mike Flanagan have become attached as executive producers. And second, Neon is now distributing the film after purchasing it days after the releasing of Oz Perkins’ “Longlegs.”

Ever since Flanagan contacted Stuckmann regarding the latter’s youtube review for the filmmaker’ 2013 released movie, the two have been friends. Following this, they started to communicate and Flanagan suggested Stuckmann send over a few of his scripts.

“I would follow in his footsteps as he gave me notes and feedback on my impression, and of course, this was very useful,” Stuckmann states. “This totally

altered the dynamic from discussing speicific topics to exchanging opinions on scripts and other aspects.”

When Stuckmann ran the Kickstarter for “Shelby Oaks,” Flanagan bumped to him in order to read the script and got interested in it.

‘After finishing the first version, he recalls asking him for any notes on the first rough cut of it’, he notes. Rather, since that moment, he was like, “How else can I be of help?” From there, it’s been a wonderful blessing.‘It was while looking at hoping to get financing from the global industry that Chris’ work grabbed my attention.‘

Chris’ vision impressed me, the way he worked and the determination he displayed. I was watching the Kickstarter for Shelby as it was gaining traction, it became clear what Chris was involved with. In 2010, I registered my little film Absentia with a Kickstarter and that brought back some colorful memories. The man’s fervor and primary style are how you would have felt in the early days. The word got out. He was going to throw everything including the friends and family into this fight and that was motivating. Betty Powell’s universe ‘Shelby Oaks’ stood out and I understood very well why the picture was evolving.

“Movies are their passion,” he says. “When we met in person, I recall there were a few lines from our favourite movies that were used. They adore the movies as well as the people behind the camera. They want all the cast and crew to be passionate about the project at hand. Sounds kind of strange, but it is all very secure and homely.”

As for the prospects, Stuckmann wants to concentrate on directing films and reducing his YouTube reviews, but he thrilled whenever he has a chance to promote movies with his voice. There’s also the desire to depict through the YouTube channel the actual mechanics of how a film is made, so that more people appreciate the effort that goes into a feature film.

It’s pretty easy to see that there are a few people who would argue if, in an ideal world, those would be able to keep on making films and sometimes gush about particular films that fascinated them while bringing their audience ‘behind the curtain’ Stuckmann continues. “My only dream would be to many, many filmmakers and particularly people who talk about the making of the film on the World Wide Web do speak the embellishments.”

He explains that as in the past he was willing to provide any kind of assistance that he could to his friend in the venture of making ‘Shelby Oaks ‘.

“I still remember the time when I was myself as a director, there was so much about Chris and his journey that was very similar to my own,” he says. “It was not just a treat; it was very encouraging to have him along on a few minuscule milestones of his on an absolutely remarkable journey.”

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