Chris Stuckmann has had his hands full for the past several years. In addition to being one of the most watched and subscribed to film critics on YouTube, he became a father to twins and crafted his first widely available horror feature, Shelby Oaks (in theatres everywhere this weekend), which he co-wrote with his wife, Sam Liz.
Since just before the pandemic, Ohio native Stuckmann tried to secure the funding for Shelby Oaks through traditional methods, but eventually turned to Kickstarter to raise the necessary money. Not only did Stuckmann’s campaign become the highest grossing horror film on the Kickstarter platform, but the finished film was also picked up for wide distribution this spooky season through indie powerhouse Neon, who also kicked in some funds for additional reshoots. Not bad for a film that Stuckmann had thought he would simply just upload to his YouTube channel and that would be the end of it.
Since then, Stuckmann has been on the road, hitting various festivals and cities for screenings of Shelby Oaks, the story of a woman named Mia (Camille Sullivan) investigating the mysterious disappearance of her paranormal leaning content creator sister, Riley (Sarah Durn). We caught up with Stuckmann while he was recently in Toronto to talk about his current journey, balancing filmmaking with film criticism, crafting a compelling backstory for his characters, and revisiting a time when making internet content was in its infancy.
Shelby Oaks is now playing in theatres everywhere.
