Movie review YouTuber Chris Stuckmann’s horror movie, Shelby Oaks, has been picked up by Longlegs distributor Neon.
Neon bought the global rights to the movie before its debut to audiences at the Fantasia Festival on July 20. Stuckmann has been working on Shelby Oaks for years, starting a Kickstarter for the movie in 2022, and raising over $1 million for its production from 14,000 backers.
The movie will be released theatrically in the US in 2025, according to Stuckmann.
“I’m just overjoyed that Neon saw something in it and I can’t believe it honestly. They were a dream company. When I was making this movie and someone came to me and said: ‘What’s the No. 1 place you would want this movie to be?’ I would have said Neon.” Stuckmann said in a video announcing the company’s purchase of the rights to his movie.
The veteran YouTuber has given fans updates on the film’s production through uploads to his channel from videos specifically about the project, or dropping announcements in his regular review content. He also took a step back from YouTube during the film’s production.
Stuckmann has also set up a website for the movie with promotional material and merchandise for sale to continue to fund the project. Shelby Oaks was written by Stuckmann and will be the creator’s directorial debut.
The movie follows Mia and her search for her sister, Riley, a paranormal investigator YouTuber who went missing after an investigation.
Neon has been putting together a long list of box office and critical darling movies over the past few years with hits like the recently released Longlegs, the Sydney Sweeny-led Immaculate, and the Oscar-winning film Anatomy of a Fall among many more.
The distributor is not the first major Hollywood company to take a chance on a YouTube filmmaker. A24 released Talk to Me in 2023 which was directed by the horror short YouTube duo Danny and Michael Philippou.
Fans of Stuckmann have been patiently waiting for this movie even before the 2022 Kickstarter campaign as the creator has been open about writing a feature film for years. Now, fans only have to wait a few months to see the YouTuber’s work come to light.